: 



■ S6 



PATRIOTIC READINGS 
AMD RECITATIONS 




A STANDARD COLLECTION 



FREDERICK J. DRAKE & CO., PUBLISHERS, CHICAGO 



Patriotic Recitations 

and Readings 



CONTAINING A LARGE NUMBER OP THE 
MOST EFFECTIVE, ELOQUENT, INSTRUCTIVE 
AND BRILLIANT SELECTIONS FOR FOURTH OF 
JULY, DECORATION, ARBOR AND LABOR DAY, 
WASHINGTON AND LINCOLN^ BIRTHDAYS 
AND ALL OTHER HOLIDAY CELEBRATIONS. 
MANY OF THE PIECES ARE THE MOST AD- 
MIRABLE SPECIMENS IN OUR LANGUAGE, EX- 
PRESSIVE OF EVERY SHADE OF FEELING AND 
THOUGHT. 



EDITED BY 

JOSEPHINE STAFFORD. 




Chicago 

Frederick J. Drake & Company 

Publishers 



THE UBRARY OF 

CONGRESS, 
Tv»u Copies r?EOcrvto 

APR. 9 1902 

CLASS A,XXa No. 
COPY 7 A. ' 



Copyright, 1902 

Frederick J. Drake & Company 

Chicago. 



PREFACE 



The need of better readers and speakers was 
never more urgent than now. Deficiency in 
expressive reading and * effective speaking has 
been observed and deplored "for years. Within 
the last score or more of years, schools of ora- 
tory, elocution, Delsarte, physical and vocal cul- 
ture, and many institutions of less pretentious 
titles have demonstrated the assertion that "good 
reading is attainable by the masses." 

The day will never come when the memoriz- 
ing and reciting of poems and choice prose efforts 
by our best writers and greatest orators will 
cease to be popular with our American youth. 
It is a part of our inheritance to preserve the 
utterances of the men and women who have by 
their voice and pen done much to advance the 
spirit of truth, heroism and patriotism— the 
chief characteristic of our American manhood 
and womanhood. This book, therefore, is pre- 
sented to the public in obedience to that trite 
commercial maxim, "The demand will summon 
the supply." 






rA^ 



a-- 






CONTENTS 



American Flag, The— Anonymous 105 

America— Charles Phillip 102 

After the Battle— Anon 99 

After the Battle 149 

An American Exile — Isaac Hinton Brown.. 9 

American Flag, The— H. W. Beecher 15 

Banner Betsey Made, The— T. C. Harbaugh 23 

Barbara Frietchie— J. G. Whittier 55 

Battle of Manila Bay, The— Anon 153 

Battle of Santiago— Admiral W. S. Schley. 16 

Battle Field, The— W. C. Bryant 43 

Battle Flags, The— Carl Schurz 94 

Capture of Quebec, The— Anon 157 

Centennial Oration— H. A. Brown 112 

Constitution and the People, The— Anon. . 91 

Captain Molly at Monmouth— Anon 141 

Columbia-P. S. Gilmore 123 

Caldwell at Springfield— Bret Harte 117 

Columbia— Timothy Dwight 139 



6 CONTENTS 

Deeds of Valor at Santiago— Clinton Scol- 

lard 34 

Douglas to the Populace of Sterling— Anon. 144 

Defeat of Braddock— Anon 167 

Ensign, The Tattered 127 

Flag Goes By, The 26 

Flower of Liberty, The— 0. W. Holmes. . . 71 

Fourth of July— G. W. Bethune 53 

Freedom Standard 129 

Flag of the Free 128 

Flag of Our Union, The 128 

General Wheeler at Santiago— James L. 

Gordon 25 

Heroes of '76-Geo. W. Curtis 77 

History of Our Flag— Rev. A. P. Putnam. 85 

Hobson's Daring Deed— Anon 18 

In Manila Bay— Charles Wadsworth, Jr. . . 27 

Independence Day— Anon 170 

Independence Day— Rev. L. Parmely 60 

Independence Bell 82 

Independence Hall— J. Stevenson Mitchell. Ill 

Love of Country— Isaac Hinton Brown. . . 74 

Lincoln, Park Goodwin on Death of 58 

Little Jean — Anon 165 

Lincoln's Address at Gettysburg Cemetery. 116 



CONTENTS 7 

Lincoln, the Young Patriot— Anon 136 

Mcllrath of Malate— Anon 146 

My Soldier Boy— Anon 20 

Negro Soldier, The— B. M. Channing 33 

Nationality— Rufus Choate 72 

Nathan Hale, The Martyr Spy— Isaac Hin- 

ton Brown 64 

Our Country's Greatness— Geo. F. Hoar. . . 89 

Our Whole Country— Anon 76 

Our Centennial Celebration— Orestes Cleve- 
land 48 

Our Flag-Chas. F. Alsop 31 

Our Country's Call— Richard Barry 38 

Our Country— Anon 145 

Our Country's Call— W. C. Bryant 119 

Our Banner 127 

Patriot Spy, The— F. N. Finch 107 

Perry's Celebrated Victory on Lake Erie. . 160 
Patriotism of American Woman— T. B. 

Read 37 

Patriotic Recitations . . , 47 

Rodney's Ride— Anon 130 

Roll Call, The— Anon 42 

Race for Dear Life, The— Anon 36 

Stained by the Blood of Heroes 127 



8 CONTENTS 

Story of '76, The-W. C. Bryant 40 

Starry Flag of Ours, That— Anon 32 

Starry Flag, The— Stockton Bates 125 

Spool of Thread, The- Anon 133 

Sinking of the Ships, The— Anon 156 

Sinking of the Merrimac, The— R. P. Hob- 
son 45 

Stand by the Flag 129 

Then and Now— Anon 15 

Union of the States, The— Daniel Webster. 97 
Union of Blue and Gray — Paul H. Hayne. . 109 

Washington's Name— Anon 51 

Washington— Daniel Webster 121 

Yankees in Battle, The— Capt. Robley D. 
Evans 21 



Patriotic Recitations 



AN AMERICAN EXILE. 



In Norfolk Bay, long years ago, where waved 

The nation's flag from mizzen gaff 

Of frigate, sloop and other war-like craft, 

A group of naval officers, assembled 

On the flag-ship's quarter-deck, discussed 

With earnestness the act by which the State 

Of South Carolina annulled 

The tariff laws of Congress. 

The President's prompt act, 

Despatching Scott to Charleston, ordering 

The execution of the laws by force, 

Had thrilled the nerves of those who bore 

Their country's arms. 

The naval service boasted many men 

Who traced through veins as chivalrous as their 

sires ' 
The blood of Sumter, Pickens, Hayne, 
And other revolutionary patriots ; 
And, conscious of a lineage illustrious 
From those who gave the grand Republic birth, 
Their minds were often filled with politics 



10 PATRIOTIC RECITATIONS 

Of State; and thus the acts of courts 
And legislatures oft became their theme 
In time of peace as much as warlike deeds 
Of Neptune. 

One of these in this debate, 
A handsome, sun-bronzed officer of most 
Commanding mien, became conspicuous 
In warm approval of his State's rash act 
And censure strong of President 
And Congress. While his flashing eye betrayed 
The fierce emotions of his soul, his voice 
Rang fearful maledictions : ' ' Curse the country 
Whose flag from yonder mizzen floats; the men 
Be cursed, who in the name of government 
Ignore the rights my native State has held 
supreme. ' ' 

Then drawing forth his rapier 

As if in frenzied rage : ' ' My sword 's my own, 

My heart is loyal to my native State ; 

And here I swear, this blade shall ne 'er be drawn 

But in defense of rights this tyrant thing 

Called government, usurps, and those its threats 

Would terrify. Its flag be trailed in dust ; 

The fate of Carthage be its cursed doom ; , 

The memory of its present acts, with those 

Who gave them shape, go down in blood and 

shame. ' ' 
Such direful imprecations shocked the ears 
Of those who heard; and ere the speechless 

group 
Recovered from their blank amaze, a young 
Lieutenant felled the speaker senseless to 



SELECTED READINGS 11 

The deck; then, quick before the officer 
Commanding, preferred the charge of treason. 

Court-martial trials are speedy in results; 
The sentence, novel in its terms, was heard 
With unfeigned haughtiness and scorn by him 
Whom it deprived of country : 

"The prisoner, hence, for life, shall be con- 
signed 
To vessels cruising in a foreign sea; 
No tongue to him shall speak his country's 

name, 
Nor talk to him of aught save daily wants ; 
And ever to his sight that country's flag 
Shall be the token that its powers live 
To carry out this sentence." 

In far-off seas, away from kindred hearts 
And native home, the years passed slowly on ; 
But pride and stubborn will did not desert 
This strange misguided man ; his fate he seemed 
To cherish for the cause he still believed 
Would triumph in the end. 
Yet to and fro his narrow bounds he paced, 
Alone amid a frigate's crew, of whom 
Not one could speak to him a friendly word, 
Nor tell him of that wondrous growth and fame 
The land he cursed attained among 
The nations of the earth. No cheering word 
His yearning heart in time could e'er expect 
From stricken mother, weeping wife, and babes 
By him made worse than orphans, who might 
blush 



12 PATRIOTIC RECITATIONS 

To call him father. Still, above, around, 

In sportive play, the flag he madly cursed, as star 

By star was added to its field of blue, 

In gorgeous folds waved kindly o'er his head, 

As if forgiving his ingratitude. 

And now, as other years rolled sadly by, 

And he was passed from ship to ship, as each 

In turn went home, the lines of grief and frosis 

Of age bore silent evidences of slow decay. 

In time his face was marked with pensive cast, 

A harbinger of sad, repentant thought. 

A sailor, unperceived, took note of him, 

And oft observed him watch the waving -flag 

With strange emotion. And once his lips 

Were seen to move : ' ' Thou ever-present curse, 

Reminding me of what I am, of what 

I've lost. Thou Nemesis of nature's wrongs! 

For that I've sinned against my birth, my soul's 

Remorse affirms. How long ere nature's laws, 

More kind than human heart, will free my eyes 

From thee, thou vengeful Avitness of my shame ? 

I'd tear thee from thy staff,— but when I think 

Of all the tears thou'st witnessed in these eyes, 

At first my curses, then my prayers to God, 

Of secret thoughts conceived within thy sight, 

Thou seems 't so much a friend, I would not blot 

From out thy field a single star— and yet— 

and yet— 

O soul, when will thy mad resentment cease?'' 
* # # # # # 

Full thirty years had passed since sound 
Of friendly voice had filled his ear, and now 




SELECTED READINGS 13 

He paced another deck than one designed 
For heavy armament,— a merchant craft, 
Commissioned while the nations ships of war 
Were called for duty home to try the cause 
For which this poor, deluded exile gave 
His manhood and his life. 

Near set of sun 
The cry of "Sail" was heard, and then, 
Against his will, they hurried him below. 
The startling call to quarters reached his ear; 
And ere the roll of drum and boatswain 's whistle 

died away 
There came a distant "boom" that roused a hope 
He yearned to realize. A moment more, 
A deaf 'ning sound, that shook the very keel 
Awoke his heart with joy. He knew and hailed 
The truth. The land,— his land— was now at 

war. 
The foe— his name, it mattered not to him— 
Had struck the challenge blow and filled his soul 
With fire. 

love of country ! Thou art lasting as 
The faith of childhood. Thou art stronger than 
The love of life,— the fear of death! 
This exiled penitent, this prodigal 
Without a home, would prove himself a man ! 
He cried for help to free him from his bonds ; 
1 ' Ahoy there ! Men on deck ! For love of God 
Let me not perish in this cell. Unbar the door, 
Take off these chains and arm me for the fight ! 
Oh give me air and light beneath the flag; 



14 PATRIOTIC RECITATIONS 

My blood will wash away my curse!" But all 
Was vain. 

A tearing shot that ploughed through side 
And prison bulkhead walls, made clear 
A passage wide enough through which 
He sought his "wild desire. 
But ere he reached the deck, the foe had lashed 
His ship beside, and countless fierce wild men 
Were leaping down among' the feeble crew, 
Who battled hard, but vain, against such odds. 

He saw the flag the enemy displayed, 
A flag unknown, unseen by him before, 
Though strangely like the one he cursed,— now 

loved 
So much,— would die in its defense. 
He wrenched a cutlass from a dying hand, 
And hewed his way among the privateers. 
Where 'er he struck, the way was cleared of men 
Like wheat before the blade. His strange 

demean 
And antique garb amazed the foe, until 
It seemed he'd drive the boarders to their ship. 
At last his wounds o'ercame his madd'ning 

strength, 
And, sinking to his knee, was soon disarmed, 
But spared the murd'rous stroke by one who 

knew 
His name and story from a child. 
His glazing eye turned wistful toward that flag, 
Now drooping low, as if to mourn for him :— 



SELECTED READINGS 15 

"My country! thou art now avenged! my 
life,— 
My wasted life,— I give to thee— to thee." 

I. H. Brown. 



THEN AND NOW. 1776-1876.-F. W. Fish. 



Looking back a hundred years, 
And comparing the now and then, 

It seems to me that in spite of fears 
The country has earnest men, 

As willing to draw the sword for right, 
As ready to wield the pen. 

It seems to me that in faithful hearts 

The currents yet ebb and flow, 
With a constant motion that still imparts 

As steady and clear a glow 
Of zeal for freedom's glorious arts 

As a hundred years ago. 

It seems to me that in field and forge, 

By river and by rill, 
In fertile plain and mountain gorge, 

In city and hamlet, still 
They live as they did in the days of King George, 

Of Concord and Bunker Hill. 



16 PATRIOTIC RECITATIONS 

BATTLE OF SANTIAGO. 

One hour before the Spaniards appeared my 
quartermaster on the Brooklyn reported to me 
that Cervera's fleet was coaling up. This was 
just what I expected, and we prepared every- 
thing for a hot reception. Away over the hills 
great clouds of smoke could be faintly seen ris- 
ing up to the sky. A little later and the smoke 
began to move towards the mouth of the harbor. 
The black cloud wound in and out along the nar- 
row channel, and every eye on board the vessels 
in our fleet strained with expectation. 

The sailor boys were silent for a full hour 
and the grim old vessels lay back like tigers wait- 
ing to pounce upon their prey. Suddenly the 
whole Spanish fleet shot out of the mouth of the 
channel. It was the grandest spectacle I ever 
witnessed. The flames were pouring out of the 
funnels, and as it left the channel the fleet open- 
ed fire with every gun on board. Their guns 
were worked as rapidly as possible, and shells 
were raining around like hail. 

It was a grand charge. My first impression 
was that of a lot of maddened bulis, goaded to 
desperation, dashing at their tormentors. The 
storm of projectiles and shells was the hottest 
imaginable. I wondered where they all came 
from. Just as the vessels swung around the 
Brooklyn opened up with three shells, and al- 
most simultaneously the rest of the fleet fired. 
Our volley was a terrible shock to the Spaniards, 
and so surprised them that they must have been 
badly rattled. 



SELECTED READINGS 17 

When our fleet swung around and gave chase, 
we not only had to face the fire from the vessels, 
but were bothered by a crossfire from the forts 
on either side, which opened on our fleet as soon 
as the Spaniards shot out of the harbor. The 
engagement lasted three hours, but I hardly 
knew what time was. I remember crashing 
holes through the Spanish Admiral's flagship, 
the Maria Teresa, and giving chase to the 
Colon. 

I was on the bridge of the Brooklyn during 
the whole engagement, and at times the smoke 
was so dense that I could not see three yards 
ahead of me. The shells from the enemy's fleet 
were whistling around and bursting everywhere, 
except where they could do some damage. I 
seemed to be the only thing on the vessel not 
protected by heavy armor, and oh ! how I would 
have liked to get behind some of that armor! 

I don't know how I kept my head, but I do 
know that I surprised myself by seeing and 
knowing all that was going on, and I could hear 
my voice giving orders to do just Avhat my head 
thought was right, while my heart was trying to 
get beneath the shelter of the armored deck. 
How do I account for such a victory with so lit- 
tle loss? That would mean how do I account 
for the rain of Spanish shell not doing more ex- 
ecution? They fought nobly and desperately, 
but they were not a match for our Yankee of- 
ficers and sailors. 

I was proud of the boys in our fleet during 
that engagement. They knew just what their 



18 PATRIOTIC RECITATIONS 

guns could do, and not one shot was wasted. 
Their conduct was wonderful. It was inspiring. 
It was magnificent. Men who can stand behind 
big guns and face a black storm of shells and 
projectiles as coolly as though nothing was oc- 
curring; men who could laugh because a shell 
had missed hitting them ; men who could bet one 
another on shots and lay odds in the midst of 
the horrible crashing ; men who could not realize 
that they were in danger— such men are won- 
ders, and we have a whole navy of wonders. 
Admiral W. S. Schley. 



HOBSON'S DARING DEED. 



Thunder peal and roar and rattle of the ships in 
line of battle, 
Rumbling noise of steel volcanoes hurling 
metal from the shore, 
Drowned the sound of quiet speaking and the 
creaking, creaking, creaking 
Of the steering-gear that turned her toward 
the narrow harbor door. 

On the hulk was calm and quiet, deeper for the 
shoreward riot; 
Dumb they watched the fountain streaming; 
mute they heard the waters hiss, 
Till one laughed and murmured, "Surely it was 
worth while rising early 
For a fireworks exhibition of such character 
as this." 



SELECTED READINGS 19 

Down the channel the propeller drove her as 
they tried to shell her 
From the dizzy heights of Morro and Soeapa 
parapet ; 
She was torn and she was battered, and her up- 
per works w r ere shattered 
By the bursting of the missiles that in air 
above her met. 

Parallels of belching cannon marked the winding 
course she ran on, 
And they flashed through morning darkness 
like a giant's flaming teeth; 
"Waters steaming, boiling, churning; rows of 
muzzles at each turning; 
Mines like geysers spouting after and before 
her and beneath. 

Not a man was there who faltered ; not a theory 
was altered 
Of the detailed plan agreed on— not a doubt 
was there expressed; 
This was not a time for changing, deviating, re- 
arranging ; 
Let the great God help the wounded, and their 
courage save the rest. 

And they won. But greater glory than the win- 
ning is the story 
Of the foeman's friendly greeting 'of that 
valiant captive band; 

Speech of his they understood not, talk to him 
in words they could not ; 



20 PATRIOTIC RECITATIONS 

But their courage spoke a language that all 
men might understand. 



MY SOLDIER BOY. 

When night comes on, when morning breaks, 

they rise, 
Those earnest prayers by faithful lips oft 

said, 
And pierce the blue which shrouds the inner 

skies : 
"God guard my boy; God grant he is not 

dead!" 
"My soldier boy— where is he camped to-night ?" 
1 ' God guard him waking, sleeping or in fight ! ' ' 



Far, far away where tropic suns cast down 
Their scorching rays, where sultry damp airs 
rise 

And haunting breath of sickness holds its own, 
A homesick boy, sore wounded, suffering lies. 

1 ' Mother ! Mother ! " is his ceaseless cry. 

1 ' Come, mother, come, and see me ere I die ! " 

Where is war's glory? Ask the trumpet's blare, 

The marching columns run to bitter strife; 
Ask of the raw recruit who knows as yet 
Naught of its horrors, naught of its loss of 
life; 
Ask not the mother ; weeping for her son, 
She knows the heart-aches following victories 
won. 



SELECTED READINGS 21 

THE YANKEES IN BATTLE. 

For courage and dash there is no parallel in 
history to this action of the Spanish Admiral. 
He came, as he knew, to absolute destruction. 
There was one single hope. That was that the 
Spanish ship Cristobal Colon would steam faster 
than the American ship Brooklyn. The specta- 
cle of two torpedo boat destroyers, paper shells 
at best, deliberately steaming out in broad day- 
light in the face of the fire of battleships can 
only be described in one way. It was Spanish, 
and it was ordered by the Spanish General 
Blanco. The same may be said of the entire 
movement. 

In contrast to the Spanish fashion was the 
cool, deliberate Yankee work. The American 
squadron was without sentiment apparently. 
The ships went at their Spanish opponents and 
literally tore them to pieces. Admiral Cervera 
was taken aboard the Iowa from the Gloucester, 
which has rescued him, and he was received with 
a full Admiral's guard. The crew of the Iowa 
crowded aft over the turrets, half naked and 
black with powder, as Cervera stepped over the 
side bareheaded. The crew cheered vociferous- 
ly. The Admiral submitted to the fortunes of 
war with a grace that proclaimed him a thor- 
oughbred. 

The officers of the Spanish ship Vizcaya said 
they simply could not hold their crews at the 
guns on account of the rapid fire poured upon 
them. The decks were flooded with water from 



22 PATRIOTIC RECITATIONS 

the fire hose, and the blood from the wounded 
made this a dark red. Fragments of bodies 
floated in this along the gun deck. Every in- 
stant the crack of exploding shells told of new 
havoc. 

The torpedo boat Ericsson was sent by the 
flagship to the help of the Iowa in the rescue of 
the Viscaya's crew. Her men saw a terrible 
sight. The flames, leaping out from the huge 
shot holes in the Viscaya's sides, licked up the 
decks, sizzling the flesh of the wounded who 
were lying there shrieking for help. Between 
the frequent explosions there came awful cries 
and groans from the men pinned in below. This 
carnage was chiefly due to the rapidity of the 
American fire. 

From two 6-pounders 400 shells were fired in 
fifty minutes. Up in the tops the marines 
banged away with 1-pounders, too excited to 
step back to duck as the shells whistled over 
them. One gunner of a secondary battery un- 
der a 12-inch gun was blinded by smoke and 
saltpetre from the turret, and his crew were 
driven off, but sticking a wet handkerchief over 
his face, with holes cut for his eyes, he stuck to 
his gun. 

Finally, as the 6-pounders were so close to 
the 8-inch turret at to make it impossible to stay 
there with safety, the men were ordered away 
before the big gun was fired, but they refused to 
leave. When the 3-inch gun was fired, the con- 
cussion blew two men of the smaller gun's crew 
ten feet from their guns and threw them to the 



SELECTED READINGS 23 

deck as deaf as posts. Back they went again, 
however, and were again blown away, and final- 
ly had to be dragged away from their stations. 
Snch bravery and such dogged determination 
under the heavy fire were of frequent occurrence 
on all the ships engaged. 

Captain R. D. Evans. 



THE BANNER BETSEY MADE. 



We have nicknamed it "Old Glory" 

As it floats upon the breeze, 
Rich in legend, song and story 

On the land and on the seas; 
Far above the shining river, 

Over mountain, glen and glade 
With a fame that lives forever 

Streams the banner Betsey made. 

Once it went from her, its maker, 

To the glory of the wars, 
Once the modest little Quaker 

Deftly studded it with stars; 
And her fingers, swiftly fiying 

Through the sunshine and the shade, 
Wedded colors bright, undying, 

In the banner Betsey made. 

When at last her needle rested 

And her cherished work was done 
Went the banner, love invested, 



24 PATRIOTIC RECITATIONS 

To the camps of Washington; 
And the glorious continentals 

In the morning light arrayed 
Stood in ragged regimentals 

1 Neath the banner Betsey made. 

How they cheered it and its maker, 

They the gallant sons of Mars, 
How they blessed the little Quaker 

And her flag of stripes and stars ; 
'Neath its folds, the foemen scorning, 

Glinted bayonets and blade, 
And the breezes of the morning 

Kissed the banner Betsey made. 

Years have passed, but still in glory 

With a pride we love to see, 
Laureled with a nation's glory 

Waves the emblem of the free ; 
From the rugged pines of Northland 

To the deep'ning everglade, 
In the sunny heart of Southland 

Floats the banner Betsey made. 

A protector all have found it 

And beneath it stands no slave, 
Freemen brave have died around it 

On the land and on the wave ; 
In the foremost front of battle 

Borne by heroes not afraid, 
'Mid the musket's rapid rattle, 

Soared the banner Betsey made. 



SELECTED READINGS 25 



rNow she sleeps whose fingers flying 
With a heart to freedom true 
Mingled colors bright, undying- 
Fashioned stars and field of blue; 
It will lack for no defenders 
When the nation's foes invade, 
For our country rose to splendor 
'Neath the banner Betsey made. 
T. C. Harbaugh. 
ge: 



GENERAL WHEELER AT SANTIAGO. 



Into the thick of the fight he went, pallid and 

sick and wan, 
Borne in an ambulance to the front, a ghostly 

wisp of a man; 
But the fighting soul of a fighting man, approved 

in the long ago, 
Went to the front in that ambulance, and the 

body of Fighting Joe. 

Out from the front they were coming back, smit- 
ten of Spanish shells— 

Wounded boys from the Vermont Hills and the 
Alabama dells; 

1 ' Put them into this r.mbulance ; I '11 ride to the 
front," he said, 

And he climbed to the saddle and rode right on, 
that little old ex-Confed. 

From end to end of the long blue ranks rose up 
the ringing cheers, 



26 PATRIOTIC RECITATIONS 

And many a powder-blackened face was furrow- 
ed with sudden tears, 

As with flashing eyes and gleaming sword, and 
hair and beard of snow, 

Into the hell of shot and shell rode little old 
Fighting Joe! 

Sick with fever and racked with pain, he could 

not stay away, 
For he heard the song of the yester-year in the 

deep-mouthed cannon's bay— ? 

He heard in the calling song of the guns there 

was work for him to do, 
Where his country's best blood splashed and 

flowed 'round the old Red, White and Blue. 

Fevered body and hero heart! This Union's 

heart to you 
Beats out in love and reverence— and to each 

dear boy in blue 
Who stood or fell 'mid the shot and shell, and 

cheered in the face of the foe, 
As, wan and white, to the heart of the fight rode 

little old Fighting Joe ! 

James Lindsay Gordon. 



THE FLAG GOES BY. 



Hats off ! 
Along the street there comes 
A blare of bugles, a ruffle of drums, 



SELECTED READINGS 27 

A flash of color beneath the sky: 

Hats off! 
The flag is passing by! 
Blue and crimson and white it shines 
Over the steel-tipped, ordered lines, 

Hats off! 
The colors before us fly! 
Sea-fights and hand-fights grim and great 
Fought to make and to save the state ; 
Cheers of victory on dying lines. 
Weary marches and sinking ships ; 
Days of plenty and years of peace 
March of a strong land 's swift increase ; 
Equal justice, right and law, 
Stately honor and reverend awe ; 
Sign of a nation great and strong, 
To ward her people from foreign wrong; 
Pride and glory and honor, all 
Live in the colors to stand or fall. 

Hats off! 



IN MANILA BAY. 



un the broad Manila Bay 

The Spanish cruisers lay, 

In the shelter of their forts upon the shore; 
And they dared their foes to sail 
Through the crashing iron hail 

Which the guns from decks and battlements 
would pour. 



28 PATRIOTIC RECITATIONS 

All the harbor ways were missed, 
And along the channel blind 

Slept the wild torpedoes, dreaming dreams of 
wrath, 
fea ! the fiery hates of hell 
Lay beneath the ocean's swell, 

Like a thousand demons ambushed in the path. 

Breasting fierce Pacific gales, 
Lo! a little squadron sails, 

And the Stars and Stripes are floating from 
its spars. 
It is friendless and alone, 
Aids and allies it has none, 

But a dauntless chorus sings its dauntless 
tars: 

•'We're ten thousand miles from home; 
Ocean's wastes and wave and foam 

Shut us from the land we love so far away. 
We have ne'er a friendly port 
For retreat as last resort, 

But we'll beard the ships of Spain in their 
own bay. 

"They have mines beneath the sea, 
They have forts upon their lee, 

They have everything to aid them in the f ray ; 
But we'll brave their hidden mines, 
And we '11 face their blazing lines ; 

Yes! We'll beard the ships of Spain in their 
own bay. 



SELECTED READINGS 29 

"'If we're worsted in the fight, 
We shall perish in the right— 

No hand will wipe the dews of death away. 
The wounded none will tend, 
For we've not a single friend; 

But we'll beard the ships of Spain in their 
own bay. 

*'No ironclads we sail, 
Only cruisers light and frail, 

With no armor plates to turn the shells away. 
All the battleships now steer 
In another hemisphere, 

But we'll beard the ships of Spain in their 
own bay. 

• ' Ho ! Remember now the Maine ! 
Up ! And smite the ships of Spain ! 

Let them not forget for years this first of 
May! 
Though hell blaze up from beneath, 
Forward through the cannon's breath, 

When Dewey leads into Manila Bay." 

There, half-way round the world, 

Swift and straight the shots were hurled, 

And a handful of bold sailors won the day. 
Never since earth was begun 
Has a braver deed been done 

Than when Dewey sailed into Manila Bay. 

God made for him a path 

Through the mad torpedoes' wrath, 



30 PATRIOTIC RECITATIONS 

From their slumbers never wakened into play. 
When dawn smote the east with gold, 
Spaniards started to behold 

Dewey and his gallant fleet within their bay. 

Then from forts and warships first 
Then from forts and worships first 
Iron maledictions burst, 

And the guns with tongues of flame began to 
pray; 
Like demons out of hell 
The batteries roar and yell, 

While Dewey answers back across the bay. 

God ! it was a sight, 

Till the smoke, as black as night, 

Hid the fire-belching ships from light of day. 
When it lifted from the tide, 
Smitten low was Spanish pride, 

And Dewey was the master of their bay. 

Where the awful conflict roared, 
And red blood in torrents poured, 

There the Stars and Stripes are waving high 
to-day. 
Dewey ! Hero strong and grand ! 
Shout his name through every land! 

For he sunk the ships of Spain in their own 
bay. 

Charles Wadsworth, Jr. 



CE./ECT3D HEADING, 31 

OUR FLAG. 



Now can the world once more the glory see 
Of this our flag, emblem of liberty. 
Now can the tyrant quake with direst fear 
As o'er his land our banners shall appear. 

No selfish aim shall lead our flag astray, 

No base desire shall point our banner's way; 

Each star has told a tale of noble deed, 

Each stripe shall mean from strife a nation free. 

Our glorious past when first with thirteen stars 
On field of blue with white and bright red bars, 
Our flag led on in battle 's fierce array, 
And freed the land from mighty Britain 's sway. 

And since this time when first it was unfurled. 
Our flag has proved the noblest in the world. 
From Cuba's shore out to Manila Bay 
Its mighty folds protecting fly to-day. 

Beneath this flag with patriotic pride 

For freedom's cause great men have gladly died 

Our noblest sons beneath its folds so free 

In conflict died for Cuba's liberty. 

Float on, dear flag, our nation's greatest joy, 
Thy starry folds no despot shall destroy, 
Stretch out thy arms till war forever cease, 
And all the world is universal peace. 

Chas. F. Alsop. 



32 PATRIOTIC RECITATIONS 

THAT STARRY FLAG OF OURS. 



Unfurl the starry banner, 

Till with loving eyes we view 
The stars and stripes we honor 
And the folds of azure blue 

'Tis the pride of all our nation 
And the emblem of its powers — 

The gem of all creation 
Is that starry flag of ours. 

Then raise aloft "Old Glory, " 
And its colors bright surround, 

In battle fierce and gory, 

Or in peace with honor bound. 

Let it float from spire and steeple, 

And from house-tops, masts and towers, 

For the banner of the people 
Is that starry flag of ours. 

Now, behold it, bright and peerless, 

In the light of freedom's sky; 
See its colors floating, fearless 

As the eagle soaring high. 

And amid the cannon's rattle 
And the bullets' deadly showers, 

Ten million men will battle 
For that starry flag of ours. 




SELECTED REA.DESGS 33 

THE NEGRO SOLDIER. 



"We used to think the negro didn't count for 

very much — 
Light-fingered in the melon patch, and chicken 

yard, and such; 
Much mixed in points of morals and absurd in 

point of dress, 
The butt of droll cartoonists and the target of 

the press; 
But we've got to reconstruct our views on color, 

more or less, 

Now we know about the Tenth at La Qua- 
sina! 

When a rain of shot was falling, with a song 

upon his lips, 
In the horror where such gallant lives went out 

in death's eclipse, 
Face to face with Spanish bullets, on the slope 

of San Juan, 
The negro soldier showed himself another type 

of man; 
Read the storyof his courage, coldly, carelessly, 

who can — 

The story of the Tenth at La Quasina ! 

We have heaped the Cuban soil above their 

bodies, black and white — 
The strangely sorted comrades of that grand and 

glorious fight— 
And many a fair-skinned volunteer goes whole 

and sound today 



3i PATRIOTIC RECITATIONS 

For the succor of the colored troops, the battle 

records say, 
And the feud is done forever, of the blue coat 
and the gray— 
All honor to the Tenth at La Quasina ! 
B. M. Channing. 



DEEDS OF VALOR AT SANTIAGO. 



Who cries that the days of daring are those that 

are faded far, 
That never a light burns planet-bright to be 

hailed as the hero 's star ? 
Let the deeds of the dead be laureled, the brave 

of the elder years, 
But a song, we say, for the men of today who 

have proved themselves their peers! 

High in the vault of the tropic sky is the garish 

eye of the sun, 
And down with its crown of guns a-frown looks 

the hilltop to be won ; 
There is the trench where the Spaniard lurks, 

his hold and his hiding-place, 
And he who would cross the space between must 

meet death face to face. 

The black mouths belch and thunder, and the 

shrapnel shrieks and flies; 
Where are the fain and the fearless, the lads 

with the dauntless eyes? 



SELECTED READINGS 35 

"Will the moment find them wanting ! Nay, but 

with valor stirred ! 
Like the leashed hound on the coursing-ground 

they wait but the warning word. 

"Charge!" and the line moves forward, moves 
with a shout and a swing, 

"While sharper far than the cactus-thorn is the 
spiteful bullet's sting. 

Now they are out in the open* and now they are 
breasting the slope, 

"While into the eyes of death they gaze as into 
the eyes of hope. 

Never they wait nor waver, but on they clam- 
ber ,and on, 

With ' ' Up with the flag of the stripes and stars, 
and down with the flag of the Don ! ' ' 

What should they bear through the shot-rent air 
but rout to the ranks of Spain, 

For the blood that throbs in their hearts is the 
blood of the boys of Anthony Wayne ! 

See, they have taken the trenches! Where are 

the f oemen ? Gone ! 
And now ' ' Old Glory ' ' waves in the breeze from 

the heights of San Juan! 
And so, while the dead are laureled, the brave 

of the elder years, 
A song, we say, for the men of today who have 

proved themselves their peers ! 

Clinton Scollard. 



36 PATRIOTIC RECITATIONS 

A RACE FOR DEAR LIFE. 

The battleships Brooklyn, Oregon and Texas 
pushed ahead after the Spanish ships Colon and 
Almirante Oquendo, which were now running 
the race of their lives along the coast. When 
Admiral Cervera's flagship, the Almirante 
Oquendo, suddenly headed in shore, she had the 
Brooklyn and Oregon abeam and the Texas 
astern. The Brooklyn and Oregon pushed on 
after the Cristobal Colon, which was making fine 
time, and which looked as if she might escape, 
leaving the Texas to finish the Almirante Oquen- 
do. This work did not take long. The Spanish 
ship was already burning. Just as the Texas 
got abeam of her she was shaken by a loud and 
mighty explosion. 

The crew of the Texas started to cheer. 
"Don't cheer, because the poor devils are 
dying!" called Captain Philip, and the Texas 
left the Almirante Oquendo to her fate to join 
the chase of the Cristobal Colon. 

That ship, in desperation, was ploughing the 
waters at a rate that caused the fast Brooklyn 
trouble. The Oregon made great speed for a 
battleship, and the Texas made the effort of her 
life. Never since her trial trip had she made 
such time. The Brooklyn might have proved a 
match to the Cristobal Colon in speed, but was 
not supposed to be her match in strength. 

It would never do to allow even one of the 
Spanish ships to get away. Straight into the 
west the strongest chase of modern times took 



SELECTED READINGS 37 

place. The Brooklyn headed the pursuers. She 
stood well out from shore in order to try to cut 
off the Cristobal Colon at a point jutting out 
into the sea far ahead. The Oregon kept a mid- 
dle course about a mile from the cruiser. The 
desperate Don ran close along the shore, and 
now and then he threw a shell of defiance. The 
old Texas kept well up in the chase under forced 
draught for over two hours. 

The fleet Spaniard led the Americans a merry 
chase, but she had no chance. The Brooklyn 
gradually forged ahead, so that the escape of 
the Cristobal Colon was cut off. The Oregon was 
abeam of the Colon then, and the gallant Don 
gave it up. He headed for the shore, and five 
minutes later down came the Spanish flag. None 
of our ships were then within a mile of her, but 
her escape was cut off. The Texas, Oregon and 
Brooklyn closed in on her, and stopped their 
engines a few hundreds yards away. 

With the capture of the Cristobal Colon the 
battle was ended, and there was great rejoicing 
on all our ships. Meantime the New York, with 
Admiral Sampson on board, and the Vixen were 
coming up on the run. Commodore Schley sig- 
naled to Admiral Sampson: "We have won a 
great victory." 



PATRIOTISM OF AMERICAN WOMEN. 

The maid who binds her warrior's sash 

With smile that well her pain dissembles, 
The while beneath her drooping lash 



38 PATRIOTIC RECITATIONS 

One starry tear drop hangs and trembles, 
Though heaven alone records the tear, 

And fame shall never know her story, 
Her heart has shed a drop as dear 

As e 'er bedewed the field of glory ! 

The wife who girds her husband's sword, 

Mid little ones who weep and wonder, 
And bravely speaks the cheering word, 

What though her heart be rent asunder, 
Doomed nightly in her dreams to hear 

The bolts of death around him rattle, 
Hath shed as sacred blood as e'er 

Was poured upon the field of battle ! 

The mother who conceals her grief 

While to her breast her son she presses, 
Then breathes a few brave words and brief, 

Kissing the patriot brow she blesses, 
With no one but her secret God 

To know the pain that weighs upon her 
Sheds holy blood as e'er the sod 

Received on Freedom's field of honor! 
Thomas Buchanan Read. 



OUR COUNTRY'S CALL. 

The clouds grew dark as the people paused, 

A people of peace and toil, 
And there came a cry from all the sky: 

' ' Come, children of mart and soil, 



SELECTED READINGS 39 

Your mother needs you — hear her voice; 

Though she has not a son to spare, 
She has spoken the word that ye all have heard, 

Come, answer ye everywhere!" 

They need no urging to stir them on, 

They yearn for no battle cry; 
At the word that their country calls for men 
They throw down hammer, and scythe, and pen, 

And are ready to serve and die! 
From the North, from the South, from East, 
from West, 
Hear the thrill of the rumbling drum! 

Under one flag they march along, 

With their voices swelling a single song, 

Here they come, they come, they come ! 
List! the North men cheer the men from the 
South, 

And the South returns the cheer ; 

There is no question of East or West, 
For hearts are a-tune in every breast, 

'Tis a nation answering here. 

It is elbow to elbow and knee to knee, 

One land for each and for all, 
And the veterans' eyes see their children rise 

To answer their country's call. 
They have not forgotten — God grant not so! 

(Ah, we know of the graves on the hill.) 
But these eager feet make the old hearts beat, 

And the old eyes dim and fill! 



40 PATRIOTIC RECITATIONS 

The Past sweeps out, and the Present comes— 
A Present that all have wrought! 

And the sons of these sires, at the same camp- 
fires, 
Cheer one flag where their fathers fought ! 

Yes, we know of the graves on the Southern hills 
That are filled with the Blue and the Gray. 

We know how they fought and how they died, 
We honor them both there side by side, 

And they're brothers again today. 
Brothers again — thank God on high! 

( Here 's a hand-clasp all around. ) 
The sons of one race now take their place 

On one common and holy ground. 

Richard Barry. 



THE STORY OF SEVENTY-SIX. 



What heroes from the woodland sprung, 
When, through the fresh awakened land, 

The thrilling cry of freedom rung, 

And to the work of warfare strung 
The yeomans iron hand. 

Hills flung the cry to hills around, 

And ocean-mart replied to mart, 
And streams, whose springs were yet unfound, 
Pealed far away the startling sound 

Into the forest's heart. 



SELECTED READINGS 41 

Then marched the brave from rocky steep, 

From mountain river swift and cold; 
The borders of the stormy deep, 
The vales where gathered waters sleep, 
Sent up the strong and bold— 

As if the very earth again 

Grew quick with God's creating breath, 
And from the sods of grove and glen, 
Rose ranks of lion-hearted men 

To battle to the death. 

The wife, whose babe first smiled that day, 

The fair fond bride of yestereve, 
And aged sire and matron gray, 
Saw the loved warriors haste away, 
And deemed it sin to grieve. 

Already had the strife begun; 

Already blood on Concord's plain 
Along the springing grass had run, 
And blood had flowed at Lexington, 

Like brooks of April rain. 

That death-stain on the vernal sward 
Hallowed to freedom all the shore ; 

In fragments fell the yoke abhorred— 

The footstep of a foreign lord 
Profaned the soil no more. 

W. C. Bryant. 



42 PATRIOTIC RECITATIONS 

THE ROLL CALL. 



''Corporal Green!" the orderly cried; 
' ' Here ! ' ' was the answer, loud and clear, 
From the lips of a soldier who stood near, 

And "Here!" was the word the next replied. 

"Cyrus Drew!"— then a silence fell— 
This time no answer followed the call; 
Only his rear man had seen him fall, 

Killed or wounded he could not tell. 

There they stood in the fading light, 

These men of battle, with grave, dark looks, 
As plain to be read as open books, 

While slowly gathered the shades of night. 

The fern on the hillside was splashed with blood, 
And down in the corn where the poppies grew, 
Were redder stains than the poppies knew; 

And crimson dyed was the river's flood. 

For the foe had crossed from the other side, 
That day in the face of a murderous fire, 
That swept them down in its terrible ire; 

And their life-blood went to color the tide. 

"Herbert Kline!" At the call, there came 
Two stalwart soldiers into the line, 
Bearing between them this Herbert Kline, 

Wounded and bleeding to answer his name. 

"Ezra Kerr!"— and a voice answered "Here!" 



SELECTED READINGS 43 

"Hirma Kerr!"— but no man replied. 
They were brothers, these two, the sad wind 
sighed, 
And a shudder crept through the cornfield near. 

''Ephraim Deane!"— then a soldier spoke; 

"Deane carried our Regiment's colors, " he 
said; 

"Where our ensign was shot, I left him dead, 
Just after the enemy wavered and broke. 

"Close to the roadside his body lies, 

I paused a moment and gave him a drink. 
He murmured his mother's name, I think, 

And death came with it and closed his eyes. ' ' 

'Twas a victory ; yes, but it cost us dear— 
For that company's roll, when called at night, 
Of a hundred men who went into the fight 

The number was few that answered ' ' Here ! ' ' 



THE BATTLEFIELD. 



[This striking poem is an American classic. 
Two lines alone, if there were no others, are 
enough to give it immortal fame.] 

' ' Truth crushed to earth shall rise again ; 
The eternal years of God are hers." 

Once this soft turf, this rivulet's sands, 
Were trampled by a hurrying crowd, 



44 PATRIOTIC RECITATIONS 

And fiery hearts and armed hands 
Encountered in the battle cloud. 

Ah! never shall the land forget 

How gushed the life-blood of her brave, 
Gushed, warm with hope and courage yet, 

Upon the soil they sought to save. 

Now all is calm, and fresh, and still, 
Alone the chirp of flitting bird, 

And talk of children on the hill, 

And bell of wandering kine are heard. 

Soon rested those who fought; but thou 
Who mightiest in the harder strife 

For truths which men receive not now, 
Thy warfare only ends with life. 

A friendless warfare! lingering long 
Through weary day and weary year, 

A wild and many-weaponed throng 
Hang on thy front, and flank, and rear. 

Yet nerve thy spirit to the proof, 
And blanch not at thy chosen lot. 

The timid good may stand aloof, 
The sage may front— yet faint, thou not. 

Nor heed the shaft too surely cast, 
The foul and hissing bolt of scorn ; 

For with thy side shall dwell, at last, 
The victory of endurance born. 



SELECTED READINGS 45 

Truth, crushed to earth, shall rise again; 

The eternal years of God are hers; 
But Error, wounded, writhes with pain, 

And dies among his worshippers. 

Yea, though thou lie upon the dust, 
When they who helped thee flee in fear, 

Die full of hope and manly trust, 
Like those who fell in battle here. 

Another hand thy sword shall yield, 
Another hand the standard wave, 

Till from the trumpet's mouth is pealed 
The blast of triumph o'er thy grave. 

W. C. Bryant. 



THE SINKING OF THE MERRIMAC. 

The sinking of the ship Merrimac at the mouth 
of Santiago harbor, by Lieutenant Hobson, was 
one of the most daring exploits on record. It is 
here told in his own words. 

I did not miss the entrance to the harbor. I 
turned east until I got my bearings and then 
made for it, straight in. Then came the firing. 
It was grand, flashing out first from one side 
of the harbor and then from the other, from 
those big guns on the hills, the Spanish ship 
Vizcaya, lying inside the harbor, joining in. 

Troops from Santiago had rushed down when 
the news of the Merrimac 's coming was tele- 



4(? PATRIOTIC RECITATIONS 

graphed and soon lined the foot of the cliff, firing 
wildly across and killing each other with the 
cross fire. The Merrimac's steering gear broke 
as she got to Estrella Point. Only three of the 
torpedoes on her side exploded when I touched 
the button. A huge submarine mine caught her 
full amidships, hurling the water high in the 
air and tearing a great rent in the Merrimac's 
side. 

Her stern ran upon Estrella Point. Chiefly 
owing to the work done by the mine she began 
to sink slowly. At that time she was across the 
channel, but before she settled the tide drifted 
her around. We were all aft, lying on the deck, 
Shells and bullets whistled around. Six-inch 
shells from the Vizcaya came tearing into the 
Merrimac, crashing into wood and iron and pass- 
ing clear through, while the plunging shots from 
the fort broke through her decks. 

"Not a man must move," I said, and it was 
only owing to the splendid discipline of the men 
that we all were not killed, as the shells rained 
over us and minutes became hours of suspense. 
Then men's mouths grew parched, but we must 
lie there till daylight, I told them. Now and 
again one or the other of the men lying with 
his face glued to the deck and wondering wheth- 
er the next shell would not come our way would 
say: "Hadn't we better drop off now, sir? "but 
I said: "Wait till daylight." 

It would have been impossible to get the cata- 
maran or raft anywhere but to the shore, where 
the soldiers stood shooting, and I hoped that by 



SELECTED READINGS 47 

daylight Ave might be recognized and saved. The 
grand old Merrimac kept sinking. I wanted to 
go forward and see the damage done there, where 
nearly all the fire was directed, but one man 
said that if I rose it would draw all the fire on 
the rest. So I lay motionless. It was splendid 
the way these men behaved. The fire of the 
soldiers, the batteries and the Vizcaya was awful. 

When the water came up on the Merrimac 's 
decks the raft floated amid the wreckage, but 
she was still made fast to the boom, and we 
caught hold of the edge and clung on, our heads 
only oeing above water. One man thought we 
were safer right there; it was quite light; the 
firing had ceased, except that on the launch 
which followed to rescue us, and I feared En- 
sign Powell and his men had been killed. 

A Spanish launch came toward the Merrimac. 
We agreed to capture her and run. Just as she 
came close the Spaniards saw us, and a half- 
dozen marines jumped up and pointed their 
rifles at our heads. ' ' Is there any officer in that 
boat to receive a surrender of prisoners of 
war?" I shouted. An old man leaned out un- 
der the awning and held out his hand. It was 
the Spanish Admiral Cervera. 

R. P. Hobson. 



PATRIOTIC RECITATIONS. 

I do not know that the hands are weak, 

Or the brain unused to plan ; 
That the tongue delays the truth to speak, 



48 PATRIOTIC RECITATIONS 

Or the foot to march in the van; 
But I know full well that we need not seek 
In vain for a Minute Man. 

There are men today who would stand alone 

On the bridge Horatius kept; 
There are men who would fight at Marathon, 

Who would battle with Stark at Bennington 
When flashing from saber and flint-lock gun 

The fires of freedom leapt. 

It is better to look back with pride and boast, 

It is well to look ahead; 
The past to all is a dream at most, 

The future is life instead ; 
And standing unmoved at your duty's post 

Is truthfully praising the dead. 



OUR CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION. 

Extract of a speech delivered by the Hon. 
Orestes Cleveland, at the closing of the prelimi- 
nary session of the Centennial Commission. 

Fellow Commissioners:— When we were wel- 
comed in Independence Hall, and again in visit- 
ing old Carpenters' Hall, I was impressed with 
the grand and glorious memories clustering 
round about Philadelphia, all pointing with sol- 
emn significance to the occasion we are prepar- 
ing to celebrate. May we all have light and 
strength to appreciate that occasion as it ap- 
proaches. No such family gathering has ever 




SELECTED READINGS 49 

been known in the world's history, and we shall 
have pasesd away and been forgotten when the 
next one recurs. May we be permitted to rise 
up to the grandeur and importance of the work 
before us, so that the results and lessons of our 
labor may bless and last until our descendants 
shall celebrate in a similar manner the next cen- 
tennial. 

The vast and varied and marvelous results 
of inventive industry from all the world shall 
gather here ; and it is fitting— for here, upon this 
continent, in this new country, under the fos- 
tering care of the wise and beneficent provisions 
of our patent laws, the inventive genius of the 
age finds her most congenial home. From the 
international exhibition of 1876 the education 
of skilled labor, in this country, at least, is to 
take a new departure, and we hope the effect 
will be felt also, in some measure, by every civ- 
ilized nation. 

Here will be spread out before us the manu- 
factures of Great Britain, the source of all her 
power. From France will come articles of taste 
and utility, exquisite in design and perfect in 
execution. From Russia, iron and leather no 
nation has yet learned to produce. From Berlin 
and Munich, artistic productions in iron and 
bronze. From Switzerland, her unequaled wood- 
carvings and delicate watch work. From Bo- 
hemia shall come the perfection of glass-blowing, 
and musical instruments from the Black Forest. 

From the people of poor old Spain, to whose 
daring and public spirit nearly four centuries 



50 PATRIOTIC RECITATIONS 

back we owe the possibilities of this hour, shail 
come the evidence of a foretime greatness, now 
unhappily faded away for the want of education 
amongst the mass of her people. From Nine- 
veh and Pompeii the evidences of a buried past. 
The progress of the applied arts will be shown 
from all Europe. From China, her curious work- 
manship, the result of accumulated ingenuity 
reaching back beyond the time when history 
began. Matchless woodwork from Japan, and 
from far India her treasures rare and wonder- 
ful. Turkey and Persia shall bring their gorge- 
ous fabrics to diversify and stimulate our taste. 
The Queen of the East, passing the Suez Canal, 
shall cross the great deep and bow her turbaned 
head to this young giant of the West, and he 
shall point her people to the source of his vast 
powers— the education of all the people. 

One of our noted orators laid before us the 
other night such evidence as he could gather 
of the lost arts of the Ancients, and he demands 
to know what we have to compensate us for the 
loss. I claim that we have produced some things, 
even in this new country, worthy of that orator's 
notice. Instead of tearing open the bosom of 
mother earth with the root of a tree, that we 
may feed upon the bounties of nature, as the 
ancients did, the green covering rolls away with 
the perfection and grace of art itself from the 
polished moulding-board of the Pittsburg steel 
plow. Machinery casts abroad the seed and a 
reaping machine gathers the harvest. Whitney's 
cotton gin prepares the fiber; Lyall's positive 



SELECTED READINGS 51 

motion boom takes the place of the old wheel, and 
a sewing machine fits the fabric for the use of 
man. What had the ancients, I demand to know, 
that could compensate them for the want of 
these American inventions? I do not speak of 
the American telegraph or steam power, that 
we have done more than all other nations put 
together in reaching its possibilities. The Magi 
of the East never dreamed, in the wildest frenzy 
of their beautiful imaginations, of the wonders 
of these! 

Next year it will become the duty of the gen- 
eral government to make the International Ex- 
hibition known to other countries, to the end 
that all civilized people may meet with us in 
1876 in friendly competition in the progress of 
the arts of peace. Be it our duty now to arouse 
our own people to a sense of its great value. I 
know that we go out with our hearts full— let 
our minds be determined and our hands ready 
for the labor. 



WASHINGTON'S NAME. 

At the heart of our country the tyrant was leap- 
ing, 
To dye there the point of his dagger in gore, 
When Washington sprang from the watch he 
was keeping, 
And drove back the tyrant in shame from our 
shore ; 



52 PATRIOTIC RECITATIONS 

The cloud that hung o'er us then parted and 

roll'd 
Its wreaths far away, deeply tinctured with 
flame, 

And high on its fold 
Was a legend that told 
The brightness that circled our Washington's 
name. 

Long years have roll'd on, and the sun still has 
brighten 'd 
Our mountains and fields with its ruddiest 
glow; 
And the bolt that he wielded so proudly has 
lighten 'd 
With a flash as intense, in the face of the foe ; 
On the land and the sea, the wide banner has 

roll'd 
O'er many a chief, on his passage to fame, 
And still on its fold 
Shine in letters of gold 
The glory and worth of our Washington 's name. 

And so it shall be while Eternity tarries, 

And pauses to tread in the footsteps of Time ; 
The bird of the tempest, whose quick pinion car- 
ries 
Our arrows of vengeance shall hover sublime ; 
Wherever that flag on the wind shall be roll 'd, 
All hearts shall be kindled with anger and shame 
If e'er they are told 
They are careless and cold, 
In the glory that circles our Washington 's name. 

James G. Percival. 



SELECTED READINGS 53 

FOURTH OF JULY. 

George W. Bethune. 

Maine, from her farthest border, gives the first 

exulting shout, 
And from New Hampshire's granite heights, the 

echoing peal rings out ; 
The mountain farms of stanch Vermont prolong 

the thundering call, 
And Massachusetts answers, ''Bunker Hill"— a 

watchword for us all. 

Rhode Island shakes her sea-wet locks, acclaim- 
ing with the free, 

And staid Connecticut breaks forth in stalwart 
harmony. 

The giant joy of proud New York, loud as an 
earthquake's roar, 

Is heard from Hudson's crowded banks to Erie's 
crowded shore. 

Still on the booming volley rolls, o'er plains and 

flowery glades 
To where the Mississippi 's flood the turbid gulf 

invades ; 
There, borne from many a mighty stream upon 

her mightier tide, 
Come down the swelling, long huzzas from all 

that valley wide. 

And wood-crowned Alleghany's call, from ail 

her summits high, 
Reverberates among the rocks that pierce the 

sunset sky; 



54 PATRIOTIC RECITATIONS 

While on the shores and through the swales 

round the vast inland seas, 
The stars and stripes, midst freemen's songs, are 

flashing to the breeze. 

The woodsman, from the mother takes his boy 

upon his knee, 
And tells him how their fathers fought and bled 

for liberty. 
The lonely hunter sits, him down the forest spring 

beside, 
To think upon his country's worth, and feel his 

country's pride— 
"While many a foreign accent, which our God 

can understand, 
Is blessing Him for home and bread in this free, 

fertile land. 

Yes, when upon the eastern coast we sink to 

happy rest, 
The Day of Independence rolls still onward to 

the west, 
Till dies on the Pacific shore the shout of jubilee, 
That woke the morning with its voice along the 

Atlantic Sea. 
O God, look down upon the land which thou has 

loved so well, 
And grant that in unbroken truth her children 

still may dwell ; 
Nor, while the grass grows on the hill and 

streams flow through the vale, 
May they forget their fathers faith, or in their 

covenant fail: 



SELECTED READINGS 55 

Keep, God, the fairest, noblest land that lies be- 
neath the sun— 

' ' Our country, our whole country, and our coun- 
try, ever one." 



BARBARA FRIETCHIE. 




Up from the meadows, rich with corn, 
Clear in the cool September morn, 

The clustering spires of Frederick stand, 
Green-walled by the hills of Maryland. 

Round about them orchards sweep, 
Apple and peach tree fruited deep, 

Fair as a garden of the Lord 

To the eyes of the famished rebel horde, 

On that pleasant morn of the early fall, 
When Lee marched over the mountain-wall- 

Over the mountains, winding down, 
Horse and foot into Frederick town. 

Forty flags with their silver stars, 
Forty flags with their crimson bars, 

Flapped in the morning wind ; the sun 
Of noon looked down, and saw not one. 



56 PATRIOTIC RECITATIONS 

Up rose old Barbara Frietchie then, 
Bowed with four score years and ten ; 

Bravest of all in Frederick town, 

She took up the flag the men hauled down; 

In her attic window the staff she set, 
To show that one heart was loyal yet. 

Up the street came the rebel tread, 
Stonewall Jackson riding ahead. 

Under his slouched hat, left and right, 
He glanced— the old flag met his sight: 

"Halt!"— the dust-brown ranks stood fast; 
4 'Fire!"— out blazed the rifle-blast; 

It shivered the window, pane and sash ; 
It rent the banner with seam and gash. 

Quick, as it fell, from the broken staff 
Dame Barbara snatched the silken scarf ; 

She leaned far out on the window-sill, 
And shook it forth with a royal will : 

"Shoot, if you must, this old gray head, 
But spare your country's flag!" she said. 

A shade of sadness, a blush of shame, 
Over the face of the leader came ; 

The noble nature within him stirred 
To life at that woman 's deed and word ; 



SELECTED READINGS 57 

1 ' Who touches a hair of your gray head 
Dies like a dog ! March on ! ' ' he said. 

All day long through Frederick street 
Sounded the tread of marching feet; 

All day long that free flag tossed 
Over the heads of the rebel host. 

Ever its torn folds rose and fell 

On the loyal winds that loved it well ; 

And through the hill-gaps, sunset light 
Shone over it with a warm good-night. 

Barbara Frietchie's work is o'er, 

And the rebel rides on his raids no more. 

Honor to her ! and let a tear 

Fall, for her sake, on Stonewall's bier. 

Over Barbara Frietchie's grave, 
Flag of freedom and union, wave ! 

Peace, and order, and beauty, draw 
Round thy symbols of light and law; 

And ever the stars above look down 
On thy stars below in Frederick town. 

Whittier. 



58 PATRIOTIC RECITATIONS 

PARK GODWIN OX THE DEATH OF 
LINCOLN 

The great captain of our cause— Abraham 
Lincoln— smitten by the basest hand ever up- 
raised against human innocence, is gone, gone, 
gone ! He who had borne the heaviest of the 
brunt in our four long years of war, whose 
pulse beat livelier, whose eyes danced brighter 
than any other, when 

"The storm drew off 
Its scattered thunders groaning around the 
hills," 

in the supreme hour of his joy and glory was 
struck down. One who, great in himself, as 
well as by position, has suddenly departed. 
There is something startling, ghastly, awful, in 
the manner of his going ofT. But the chief 
poignancy of our distress is not for the great- 
ness fallen, but for the goodness lost. Presi- 
dents have died before; during this bloody war 
we have lost many eminent generals — Lyon, 
Baker, Kearney, Sedgwick. Reno and others ; we 
have lost lately our finest scholar, publicist, ora- 
tor. Our hearts still bleed for the companions. 
friends, brothers who "sleep the sleep that 
knows no waking," but no loss has been compar- 
able to his, who was our supremest leader.— our 
safest counsellor — our wisest friend— our dear 
father. \Vould you know what Lincoln was. 
look at this vast metropolis, covered with the 
habiliments of woe! Never in human history 



SELECTED READINGS 59 

1 

has there been so universal, so spontaneous, so 
profound an expression of a nation's bereave- 
ment. 

Yet we sorrow not as those who are without 
hope. Our chief is gone, but our cause re- 
mains; dearer to our hearts, because he is now 
become the martyr; consecrated by his sacri- 
fice; more widely accepted by all parties; and 
fragrant and lovely forevermore in the mem- 
ories of all the good and the great, of all lands, 
and for all time. The rebellion, which began in 
the blackest treachery, to be ended in the foulest 
assassination; this rebellion, accursed in its mo- 
tive, which was to rivet the shackles of slavery 
on a whole race for all the future; accursed in 
its means, which have been "red ruin and the 
breaking up of laws," the overthrow of the 
mildest and blessedest governments, and the 
profuse shedding of brother's blood by brother's 
hands; accursed in its accompaniments of vio- 
lence, cruelty and barbarism, and is now doubly 
accursed in its final act of cold-blooded murder. 

Cold-blooded, but impotent, and defeated in 
its own purpose! The frenzied hand which 
slew the head of the government, in the mad 
hope of paralyzing its functions, only drew the 
hearts of the people together more closely to 
strengthen and sustain its power. All the 
North once more, without party or division, 
clenches hands around the common altar; all 
the North swears a more earnest fidelity to free- 
dom; all the North again presents its breasts 
as the living shield and bulwark of the nation's 



60 PATRIOTIC RECITATIONS 

unity and life. Oh ! foolish and wicked dream, 
oh! insanity of fanaticism, oh! blindness of 
black hate— to think that this majestic temple 
of human liberty, which is built upon the clus- 
tered columns of free and independents states, 
and whose base is as broad as the continent — 
could be shaken to pieces, by striking off the 
ornaments of its capital. No ! this nation lives, 
not in one man nor a hundred men, however 
able, however endeared to us; but in the affec- 
tions, the virtues, the energies, and the will of 
the whole American people. 



INDEPENDENCE DAY. 
Rev. L. Parmele. 

AN ADDRESS TO AMERICAN YOUTH. 

"The Fourth of July, 1776, will be the most 
remarkable epoch in the history of America. I 
am apt to believe that it will be celebrated by 
succeeding generations as the great anniversary 
festival/ '—John Adams, in a letter to his wife, 
July 7, 1776. 

Independence Day! The booming cannon 
and rattling firearms! It is not the wrath of 
battle, but only echo-thunders, rolling back up- 
on us from the great war-tempest of '76. Nor 
are these sounds now mingled with the cries of 
the wounded and groans of the dying— mourn- 
fully terrific swelling up from the field of blood. 
The report of guns and voice of artillery that 



SELECTED READINGS 61 

fall on our ears to-day are all mellowed down 
into notes of enchanting music, and sweetly 
chime in with the glorious triumphal anthem of 
our national jubilee. 

Upon the youth of America is conferred the 
noblest birthright in the whole world. The 
stars under which you were born beam with 
brightest promise and kindle loftiest hope. 
The principles declared and defended by our 
forefathers "amid the confused noise of war- 
riors, and garments rolled in blood,"— the great 
principle "that all men were created equal" 
is the broad and only foundation of true great- 
ness. The war-guns of '76 exploded that long 
venerated theory, that royalty must flow alone 
through the veins of crowned lineage, and that 
princes could spring from the loins of kings. 
While in this land it is not possible for you to 
inherit a single drop of royal blood, yet in each 
of your bosoms is implanted the germ of a self- 
horn sovereign. Before you all, without any 
miserable and silly distinction of ancestry or 
estate, is placed the brightest diadem of moral 
dignity, intellectual greatness, and civil honor. 
This country is, morally, a "free soil" empire. 
Here the young man — it matters not whether 
his nursery was in the gilded palace or in the 
"low thatched cottage"— has before him the 
same privileges and inducements, and as wide 
and free an avenue to glory ; and his gray hairs 
may possess the fresh dew of his country's ben- 
ediction, and his name be enrolled among 
earth's true nobility. 



62 PATRIOTIC RECITATIONS 

But while full and equal encouragement is 
before you all, without respect of rank or cir- 
cumstance, still the prize is only for such as are 
willing to gird themselves unto the race; and 
the di'iigent hand alone reaps the harvest-honor. 
In our land something more is requisite to con- 
stitute one a prince than being born under a 
palace roof. Honorable parentage or the tinsel 
of wealth, are not sufficient to place the royal 
crown upon a brainless head. It is only by 
fixed purpose, intense application and invinci- 
ble perseverance that you can reach the heights 
of fame, and hang out your name to shine for- 
ever in the bright galaxy of national glory. 
Here we have no heirs apparent to the crown— 
the great men of America are self-made. You 
bring into the world no other nobility than that 
which the God of nature has endowed you— 
sovereignty of mind— the sceptre of genius ; and 
in this freest, broadest field of action you must 
become the architect of your own fortune— the 
master-builder of your own destiny. And now, 
in the morning glory of your waldng energies, 
what a full chorus of inducements is inviting 
you forth to toil with the sure promise of a rich 
reward. Oh, how many young men in the old 
world would this day leap for joy to gain; even 
"with a great price," such privileges as belong 
to your birthright. With the halls of science, 
the council chamber of state and the high places 
of empire all opening before you, let your motto 
be "I will try/' the watchword that never lost 



SELECTED READINGS 63 

a battle in the moral world— the true key-note 
to the great anthem of self-coronation. 

And while true greatness is gained only by 
mighty effort and persevering toil, this very 
effort develops intellectual powers — mind 
waxes stronger in the fight and strengthens in 
every new struggle, establishing a firm indepen- 
dence of character, and bringing out the bold 
features of individuality; like the oak, whose 
roots struggle down under the dark earth, and 
the crevices of the everlasting rocks, gaining 
a foundation of power, upon which it lifts up 
its head in towering majesty, defying the wrath 
of the wildest tempest. In countries where rank 
is obtained on easy terms of ancestry and a 
man becomes a king simply because his father 
before him was one, nobility relaxes into indo- 
lence of spirit and imbecility of intellect, and 
royalty, with all its imposing honors, degener- 
ates into mental dwarfishness, and the king's 
jester is often, really, a greater man than the 
crowned head. The great men of America are 
intrinsically great— independent of their civil 
honors, they possess the power of intellectual 
giants. 

And above all, let us remember that religion 
was the early harbinger, and continues the 
guardian angel of the American's birthright— 
the note of religious freedom struck on the rock 
of Plymouth, and was the grand prelude to the 
swelling anthem of civil liberty. None surely 
can doubt that the voice of the Almighty moved 
on the dark waters of the revolutionary strug- 



64 PATRIOTIC RECITATIONS 

gle, and that His hand was in that sublime des- 
tiny which brought out on the blackest night of 
oppression the brightest star of empire! And 
now, the war-storm over, and the battle-thunder 
ceased, the precious blood of our forefathers 
that was poured out as a free shower upon the 
earth— those peerless drops are gathered over 
us in a bright bow of promise, spanning a conti- 
nent, and resting on two oceans, attracting a 
world to ' ' the land of the free and the home of 
the brave." But the fear of God is the great 
keystone in this bow of national hope— take 
away this, and the sunlit arch will vanish into 
the blackness of a second moral deluge. 



NATHAN HALE, THE MARTYR SPY. 

After the disastrous defeat of the Americans 
on Long Island, Washington desired informa- 
tion respecting the British position and move- 
ments. Capt. Nathan Hale, but twenty-one 
years old, volunteered to procure the informa- 
tion. He was taken, and hanged as a spy the 
day after his capture, Sept. 22, 1776. His pa- 
triotic devotion and brutal treatment received 
at the hands of his captors have suggested the 
following : 

'Twas in the year that gave the Nation birth— 
A time when men esteemed the common good 
As greater weal than private gain. A battle 
fierce 



SELECTED READINGS 65 

And obstinate had laid a thousand patriots low, 
And filled the people's hearts with gloom. 

Pursued like hunted deer, 
The crippled army fled; and, yet, amid 
Disaster and defeat, the Nation's chosen chief 
Resolved his losses to retrieve. But not 
With armies disciplined and trained by years 
Of martial service could he, this Fabian chief, 
Now hope to check the hosts of Howe's vic- 
torious legions— 
These had he not. 
In stratagem the shrewder general 
Ofttimes o'ercomes his strong antagonist. 
To Washington, a knowledge of the plans, 
Position, strength of England's force, 
Must compensate for lack of numbers. 

He casts about for one who 'd take his life 

In hand. Lo ! he stands before the chief. In face, 

A boy— in form, a man on whom the eye could 

rest 
In search of God's perfected handiwork; 
In culture, grace, and speech, reflecting all 
A mother 's love could lavish on an only son. 

The chieftain's keen, discerning eye 
Appraised the youth at his full worth, and saw 
In him those blending qualities that make 
The hero and the sage. He fain would save 
For nobler deeds a man whose presence marked 
A spirit born to lead. 



66 PATRIOTIC RECITATIONS 

"Young man," he said, with kindly air, 
"Your country and commander feel grateful 

that 
Such talents are offered in this darkening hour. 
Have you, in reaching this resolve, considered 

well 
Your fitness, courage, strength— the act, the 

risk, 
You undertake ? Have you, in that fine balance 

which 
Detects an atom on either beam, weighed well 
Your chances of escape 'gainst certain fate 
Should capture follow in the British camp ? ' ' 
In tones of fitting modesty that well 
Became his years, the patriot answered thus : 
"My country's honor, safety, life, it ever was 
My highest purpose to defend: that country's 

foes 
Exultant sweep through ruined land and home 
And field. A thousand stricken hearts bewail 
The loss of those who late our standards bore ; 
Appeal to us through weeping eyes whose tears 
We cannot brush away with words. The ranks 
Of those now cold in death are not replaced 
By living men. The hour demands a duty rare, 
Perhaps a sacrifice. If God and training in 
The schools have given me capacities 
This duty to perform, the danger of the enter- 
prise 
Should not deter me from the act 
Whose issue makes our country free. In times 
Like these a nation's life sometimes upon 
A single life depends. If mine be deemed 



SELECTED READINGS 67 

A fitting sacrifice, God grant a quick 
Deliverance. ' ' 

' ' Enough : go then, at once, ' ' the great 
Commander said. "May Heaven's guardian 

angels 
Give you a safe return. Adieu." 
Disguised with care, the hopeful captain crossed 
The sound, and moved through British camp 
Without discovery by troops or refugees. 
The enemy's full strength, in men, in stores, 
Munitions, guns— all military accoutrements- 
Were noted with exact precision ; while, 
With graphic sketch, each trench and parapet, 
Casemated battery, magazine, and every point 
Stragetic was drawn with artist's skill. 

The task complete, the spy with heart 
Elate now sought an exit through the lines. 
Well might he feel a soldier's pride. An hour 

hence 
A waiting boat would bear him to his friends. 
His plans he 'd lay before his honored chief ; 
His single hand might turn the tide of war, 
His country yet be free. 

' ' Halt ! " A British musket leveled at 
His head dimmed all the visions of his soul. 
A dash— an aimless shot; the spy bore down 
Upon the picket with a blow that else 
Had freed him from his clutch, but for a score 
Of troops stationed near. In vain the struggle 
fierce 



GS PATRIOTIC RECITATIONS 

And desperate— in vain demands to be released. 

A tory relative, for safety quartered in 

The British camp, would prove his trukling 

loyalty 
With kinsman's blood. A word — a look— 
A motion of the head, and he who'd dared 
So much in freedom's name was free no more. 

Judas, self-condemned! thou art 

But the type of many a trait 'rous friend, 
Who ere and since thy time betrayed to death 
A noble heart. Henceforth be doubly doomed — 
A base example to earth's weaker souls. 

Before Lord Howe the captive youth 

Was led. "Base dog!" the naughty general 
said: 

"Ignoble son of loyal sires! you've played the 
spy 

Quite well I ween. The cunning skill where- 
with 

You wrougfit these plans and charts might well 
adorn 

An honest man; but in a rebel's hands they're 
vile 

And mischievous. If aught may palliate 

A traitor's act, attempted in his sovereign's 
camp, 

1 bid you speak ere I pronounce your sentence. ' ' 

With tone and mein that hushed 
The buzzing noise of idle lackeys in the hall, 
The patriot thus replied: "You know my 
name— 



SELECTED READINGS 69 

My rank;— my treacherous kinsman made 

My purpose plain. I've nothing further of 

myself 
To tell beyond the charge of traitor to deny. 
The brand of spy I do accept without reproach ; 
But never since I've known the base ingratitude 
Of king to loyal subjects of his realm 
Has British rule been aught to me than barbar- 
ous 
Despotism which God and man abhor, and none 
But dastards fear to overthrow. 

"For tyrant loyalty your lordship represents 

I never breathed a loyal breath ; and he 

Who calls me traitor seeks a pretext for a crime 

His trembling soul might well condemn." 

' ' I '11 hear no more such prating cant, ' ' 

Said Howe; "Your crime's enough to hang a 

dozen men. 
Before to-morrow's sun shall rise you'll swing 
'Twixt earth and heaven, that your countrymen 
May know a British camp is dangerous ground. 
For prowling spies. Away." 

In loathsome cell, deprived 
Of holy sacrament, and e'en the word of Him 
Who cheered the thief upon the cross— refused 
The means wherewith he would indite his last 
Farewell to her w T ho gave him life, 
And to another whose young heart 
The morrow's work would shade in gloom- 
He passed the night in charge of one whom 
Satan had 



70 PATRIOTIC RECITATIONS 

Commissioned hell's sharpest torments to in- 
flict. 



Securely bound upon a cart, amid 
A speechless crowd, he stands beneath a strong 
Projecting limb, to which a rope with noose at- 
tached 
Portends a tragic scene. He casts his eyes 
Upon the surging multitude. Clearly now 
His tones ring out as victors shout in triumph ; 

"Men, I do not die in vain. 

My humble death upon this tree will light anew 

The torch of Liberty. A hundred hands to one 

Before will strike for country, home, and God, 

And fill our ranks with men of faith in II is 

Eternal plan to make this people free 

A million prayers'go up this day to free 

The land from blighting curse of tyrant's rule. 

Oppression's wrongs have reached Jehovah's 

throne : 
The God of vengeance smites the foe! This 

land— 
This glorious land— is free— is free! 

"My friends, farewell! In dying thus 
I feel but one regret ; it is the one poor life 
I have to give in freedom's cause." 

I. H. Brown. 



SELECTED READINGS 71 

THE FLOWER OF LIBERTY. 



\Yhat flower is this that greets the morn. 
Its hues from heaven so richly born ! 
AVith burning star and flaming band 
It kindles all the sunset land: — 
Oh, tell us what its name may be ! 
Is this the Flower of Liberty? 

It is the banner of the free. 

The starry Flower of Liberty ! 

In savage Nature's far abode 

Its tender seed our fathers sowed: 

The storm-winds rocked its swelling bud. 

Its opening leaves were streaked with blood 

Till lo ! earth 's tyrants shook to see 

The full-blown Flower of Liberty ! 

Then hail the banner of the free ! 

The starry Flower of Liberty! 

Behold its streaming rays unite 

One mingling flood of braided light,— 

The red that fires the Southern rose, 

With spotless white from Northern snows, 

And spangled o're its azure, see 

The sister stars of Liberty I 

Then hail the banner of the free, 
The starry Flower of Liberty ! 

The blades of heroes fence it round; 
\Yhere 'er it springs is holy ground ; 
From tower and dome its glories spread ; 
It waves where lonelv sentries tread : 



72 PATRIOTIC RECITATIONS 

It makes the land as ocean free, 
And plants an empire on the sea ! 

Then hail the banner of the free, 
The starry Flower of Liberty ! 

Thy sacred leaves, fair Freedom's flower, 
Shall ever float on dome and tower, 
To all their heavenly colors true, 
In blackening frost or crimson dew— 
And God love us as we love thee, 
Thrice holy Flower of Liberty! 

Then hail the banner of the free, 
The starry Flower of Liberty ! 

0. W. Holmes. 



NATIONALITY. 

If you would contemplate nationality as an 
active virtue, look around you. Is not our own 
history one witness and one record of what it 
can do ? This day,* and all which it stands for, 
—did it not give us these? The glory of the 
fields of that war, this eloquence of that revolu- 
tion, this one wide sheet of flame which wrapped 
tyrant and tyranny, and swept all that escaped 
from it away, forever and forever, the courage 
to fight, to retreat, to rally, to advance, to guard 
the young flag by the young arm and the young 
heart's blood, to hold up and hold on till the 
magnificent consummation crowned the work, — 
were not all these imparted as inspired by this 
imperial sentiment ? Has it not here begun the 



SELECTED READINGS 73 

master- work of man,— the creation of a national 
life. Did it not call out that prodigious devel- 
opment of wisdom, the wisdom of construc- 
tiveness, which illustrated the years after 
the war, and the framing and adopting 
of the Constitution? Has is not, in the 
general, contributed to the administering of 
that government wisely and well since? Look 
at it! It has kindled us to no aims of con- 
quest; it has involved us in no entangling alli- 
ances; it has kept our neutrality dignified and 
just ; the victories of peace have been our prized 
victories, but the larger and truer grandeur of 
the nations, for which they are created, and for 
which they must one day, before some tribunal 
give account,— what a measure of these it has 
enabled us already to fulfil ! It has lifted us to 
the throne, and has set on our brow the name 
of the great republic; it has taught us to de- 
mand nothing wrong, and to submit to nothing 
wrong; it has made our diplomacy sagacious, 
wary, and accomplished; it has opened the iron 
gate of the mountain, and planted our ensign 
on the great tranquil sea ; it has made the desert 
to blossom as the rose; it has quickened to life" 
the giant brood of useful arts; it has whitened 
lake and ocean with the sails of a daring, new, 
and lawful trade ; it has extended to exiles, fly- 
ing as clouds, the asylum of our better liberty; 
it has scattered the seeds of liberty, under law 
and under order, broadcast; it has seen and 
helped American feeling to swell into a fuller 
flood; from many a field and many a deck, 



74 PATRIOTIC RECITATIONS 

though it seeks not war and fears not Avar, it has 
borne the radiant flag all unstained; it has 
opened our age of lettered glory; it has opened 
and honored the age of the industry of the peo- 
ple. Rufus Choate. 

* Fourth of July. 



LOVE OF COUNTRY. 

In these days of rapid national growth, when 
the citizen of to-day is supplanted by the youth 
and franchised emigrant to-morrow; when a 
million voters cast their ballots with no higher 
motive than compliance with a custom or the 
dictates of party henchmen; when one-fourth 
of our population have no stronger ties of resi- 
dence than avarice, whose strength varies with 
the financial fluctuations of the business world ; 
when year by year our shores receive the rest- 
less spirits of other lands who acknowledge no 
higher authority than their own caprice; when 
so many of our youth are growing into manhood 
ignorant of everything save the means of li- 
censed indulgences and frivolty our liberty af- 
fords; when as partakers of the grandest po- 
litical inheritance ever transmitted from one 
generation to another, we are all about to forget 
the fearful responsibilities thrust upon us in our 
acceptance of the blessings of liberty we enjoy, 
it is time to halt. 



SELECTED READINGS (O 

"Let us gather the fragments that nothing be 

lost, 
To tell the next ages what liberty cost. ' ' 

Let us teach the coming citizen that next to 
the love of God, implanted at the mother 's knee, 
and cultivated by daily acts of piety and benev- 
olence, is the love of country, its flag, the mar- 
tyrs who fell in its defense, and last but greatest 
of all, an abiding faith in its institutions and an 
undying devotion to its peace, happiness and 
perpetuity. Let the examples of patriots, in 
deeds of heroism and self-sacrifice, be our theme 
of meditation and discussion. Let our litera- 
ture gleam with the noble efforts, the grand 
achievements of those who gave their all that 
we, their dependents, might taste the sweets of 
freedom undisturbed. 

Let us realize that this grandest heritage of 
earth's martyrs came to us, not alone through 
the business tact and prudent foresight of our 
sires, but by years of toil and suffering, of cold 
and hunger, of want and privation, and by the 
generous sacrifice of precious blood; and that, 
though it be vouchsafed to us through blessings 
of a noble ancestry, its possession implies no 
permanence to an unworthy race. 

It is ours not alone to enjoy, but to foster and 
protect; ours to guard from schism, vice and 
crime ; ours to purify, exalt, ennoble ; ours to 
prepare a dwelling place for the purest, fairest, 
best of earth's humanity. I. H. Brown. 



76 PATRIOTIC RECITATIONS 

OUR WHOLE COUNTRY. 



Who would sever freedom's shrine? 
Who would draw the invidious line? 
Though by birth one spot be mine, 
Dear is all the rest: 

Dear to me the South 's fair land, 
Dear the central mountain band, 
Dear New England's rocky strand, 
Dear the prairie West. 

By our alters, pure and free; 

By our laws deep rooted tree ; 

By the past's dread memory; 

By our Washington; 

By our common parent tongue ; 
By our hopes, bright, buoyant, young; 
By the tie of country's song,— 
We will still be one. 

Fathers ! have ye bled in vain ? 
Ages ! must ye droop again ? 
Maker! shall we rashly stain 
Blessings sent by thee? 

No! receive our solemn vow, 
While before thy shrine we bow, 
Ever to maintain, as now, 
Union— Liberty. 



SELECTED READINGS 77 

THE HEROES OF '76. 

We are fortunate that we behold this day. 
The heavens bend benignly over us; the earth 
blossoms with renewed life : and our hearts beat 
joyfully together with one emotion of filial grat- 
itude and patriotic exultation. Citizens of a 
great, free and prosperous country, we come 
hither to honor the men, our fathers, who, upon 
this spot and upon this day, a hundred years 
ago, struck the first blow in the contest which 
made that country independent. Here, beneath 
the hills they trod, by the peaceful river on 
whose shores they dwelt, amidst the fields that 
they sowed and reaped, proudly recalling their 
virtue and their valor, we come to tell their 
story, to try ourselves by their lofty standard 
to kuow if we are their worthy children; and, 
standing reverently where they stood and 
fought and died, to swear before God and each 
other, in the words of him upon whom in our 
day the spirit of the Revolutionary fathers vis- 
ibly descended, that government of the people, 
by the people, for the people, shall not perish 
from the earth. 

This ancient town, with its neighbors who 
share its glory, has never failed fitly to com- 
memorate this great day of its history. Fifty 
years ago, while some soldiers of the Concord 
fight were yet living; twenty-five years ago, 
while still a few venerable survivors lingered— 
with prayer and eloquence and song, you re- 
newed the pious vow. But the last living link 
with the Revolution has long been broken. Great 



78 PATRIOTIC RECITATIONS 

events and a mighter struggle have absorbed 
our own generation. Yet, we who stand here 
to-day have a sympathy with the men at the 
old North Bridge, which those who preceded us 
here at earlier celebrations could not know. 
With them war was a name and a tradition. So 
swift and vast had been the change, and the de- 
velopment of the country, that the Revolution- 
ary clash of arms was already vague and unreal, 
and Concord and Lexington seemed to them al- 
most as remote and historic as Arbela and Sem- 
pach. When they assembled to celebrate this 
day, they saw a little group of tottering forms, 
eyes, from which the light was fading, arms 
nerveless and withered, thin white hairs that 
fluttered in the wind ; they saw a few venerable 
relics of a vanished age, whose pride was that, 
before living memory, they had been minute 
men of American Independence. But with us 
how changed! War is no longer a tradition, 
half romantic and obscure. It has ravaged how 
many of our homes ! It has wrung how many 
of the hearts before me ! North and South, we 
know the pang. Our common liberty is conse- 
crated by a common sorrow. We do not count 
around us a few feeble veterans of the contest ; 
but we are girt with a cloud of witnesses. We 
are surrounded everywhere by multitudes in the 
vigor of their prime. Behold them here to-day, 
sharing in these pious and peaceful rites, the 
honored citizens, legislators, magistrates— yes, 
the Chief Magistrate of the Republic— whose 
glory it is that they were minute-men of Ameri- 



SELECTED READINGS 79 

can liberty and union. These men of to-day 
interpret to us with resistless eloquence the men 
and the times we commemorate. Now, if never 
before, we understand the Revolution. Now 
we know the secret of those old hearts and 
homes. 

No royal governor, indeed, sits in yon stately 
capital; no hostile fleet for many a year has 
vexed the waters of our coasts ; nor is any army 
but our own ever likely to tread our soil. Not 
such are our> enemies to-day. They do not 
come proudly stepping to the drum-beat, with 
bayonets flashing in the morning sun. But 
wherever party spirit shall strain the ancient 
guarantees of freedom; or bigotry and ignor- 
ance shall lay their fatal hands upon education, 
or the arrogance of caste shall strike at equal 
rights, or corruption shall poison the very 
springs of national life, there, minute-men of 
liberty, are your Lexington Green and Concord 
Bridge ; and as you love yOur country and your 
kind, and would have your children rise up and 
call you blessed, spare not the enemy! Over 
the hills, out of the earth, down from the clouds, 
pour in resistless might. Fire from every rock 
and tree, from door and window, from hearth- 
stone and chamber; hang upon his flank and 
rear from morn to sunset, and so, through a 
land blazing with holy indignation, hurl the 
hordes of ignorance and corruption and injus- 
tice back, back, in utter defeat and ruin. 

George William Curtis. 



80 PATRIOTIC RECITATIONS 

THE FOURTH OF JULY. 

Mr. Watkins is a gentle old man, living on 
Ninth Avenue. He believes in the Fourth of 
July, in long-winded orations, and especially in 
having fire-works in the evening. He has no 
children; but the neighbors have them by the 
square acre, and it was generally understood 
in that neighborhood that Mr. Watkins was go- 
ing to give the children a treat Saturday night. 
He laid in a "pile" of rockets, Roman candles, 
fire-wheels, and so on, and rigged up a post, 
and had everything ready against the coming 
of night. When darkness fell and the glorious 
day of liberty was skulking away into obscurity, 
Mr. Watkin 's yard was filled with expectant 
neighbors and their children. They sat on the 
stoop, on the fence, and were three deep on 
the grass. 

The hour came, and Mr. Watkins prepared to 
unloose the fire-fiend. If he had ever seen any 
fire-works touched off, he had forgotten how 
they did it; but his ignorance didn't weigh on 
his shoulders like a grindstone. He took out a 
sky-rocket; a boy showed him how to set it up 
and where to ignite it, and away she went, strik- 
ing plump against the house opposite. The 
owner of the house, who had been on a steam- 
boat excursion and had his watch stolen, leaned 
over his gate, and said that he could, and had a 
good mind to, knock Mr. Watkins into eighteen 
fragments; but the boys hissed him into the 
house. 



SELECTED READINGS 81 

The next rocket was more of a success. It 
went straight up; and the stick came down on 
a baby's head, and produced a grand jubilee 
chorus. They took the baby home, and the next 
rocket Avas balanced with care. It started to 
rise, fell to one side, and went into a house 
where a redheaded young man sat squeezing the 
hand of a cross-eyed girl. It bobbed around a 
while, and then leaped out of the window; and 
the red-headed young man nearly twisted off a 
letter-box in trying to sound a fire-alarm. 

Then Mr. Watkins selected a mild-eyed boy 
to go on with the remnant of the display. The 
rest of the rockets went knocking around the 
neighborhood roofs and chimneys, and the fiery 
serpents chased everybody over the fence. Mr. 
WatMns ran out to say that they must be care- 
ful, when a Roman candle commenced shooting 
at him. His hat was knocked off, his hair sing- 
ed ; and as he cried : ' ' Good land ! ' ' and jumped 
through the gate, a fire-ball hit him in the back, 
and took a foot of cloth out of his Sunday coat. 
More boys offered their services ; and despite the 
protestations of the good old man, they decided 
on having a grand "Whoop de grease," as a 
wind-up. Two of them touched off the rockets, 
while the rest danced around the road with the 
Roman candles; and Mr. Watkins cried, "Good 
land!" again, and said he'd give ten dollars to 
see a policeman. He stuck his head out of a 
bay window, and a rocket grazed his nose. Wo- 
men ran, men shouted, and children whooped; 
and six bunches of fire-crackers on the stoop 



82 PATRIOTIC RECITATIONS 

went off like the roar of musketry at Gettys- 
burg. The last rocket hit the corner of the 
house, and glanced, and struck a fat man in the 
back who leaned against it, and said that he was 
mortally wounded, but that before he expired 
he was going to drink enough human gore to 
make a second Lake Erie.— Detroit Free Press. 



INDEPENDENCE BELL. 

(When it was certain that the Declaration of 
Independence would be adopted by Congress, it 
was resolved to announce the event by ringing 
the old State-House bell, which bore the inscrip- 
tion: " Proclaim liberty to the land, to all the 
inhabitants thereof!" The old bellman, ac- 
cordingly, placed his little son at the door of the 
hall, to await the instruction of the door-keeper 
when to ring; and, when the word was given, 
the little patriot-scion rushed out, and, flinging 
up his hands, shouted aloud, "Ring! Ring/ 
RING!") 

There was tumult in the city, 

In the quaint old Quaker's town, 
And the streets were rife with people, 

Pacing restless up and down;— 
People gathering at corners, 

Where they whispered each to each, 
And the sweat stood on their temples, 

With the earnestness of speech. 



SELECTED READINGS 83 

As the bleak Atlantic currents 

Lash the wild Newfoundland shore, 
So they beat against the State House, 

So they surged against the door; 
And the mingling of their voices 

Made a harmony profound, 
Till the quiet street of Chestnut 

Was all turbulent with sound. 

"Will they do it?" "Dare they do it?" 

"Who is speaking?" "What's the news?" 
"What of Adams?" "What of Sherman?" 

' ' Oh, God grant they won 't refuse ! ' ' 
1 ' Make some way there ! " " Let me nearer ! ' ' 

"I am stifling!" "Stifle, then! 
When a nation's life's a hazard, 

We 've no time to think of men ! ' ' 

So they beat against the portal, 

Man and woman, maid and child; 
And the July sun in heaven 

On the scene look 'd down and smiled ; 
The same sun that saw the Spartan 

Shed his patriot blood in vain, 
Now beheld the soul of freedom 

All unconquer'd rise again. 

See ! See ! The dense crowd quivers 

Through all its lengthy line, 
As the boy beside the portal 

Looks forth to give the sign ! 
With his small hands upward lifted, 

Breezes dallying with his hair, 



84 PATRIOTIC RECITATIONS 

Hark ! with deep, clear intonation, 
Breaks his young voice on the air. 

Hush'd the people's swelling murmur, 

List the boy's strong, joyous cry! 
"Ring!" he shouts, "Ring/ Grandpa, 

Ring/ Oh, Ring for Liberty!" 
And straightway, at the signal, 

The old bellman lifts his hand, 
And sends the good news, making 

Iron music through the land. 

How they shouted ! What rejoicing ! 

How the old bell shook the air, 
Till the clang of freedom ruffled 

The calm, gliding Delaware! 
How the bonfires and the torches 

Illumed the night's repose, 
And from the flames, like Phoenix, 

Fair Liberty arose! 

That old bell now is silent, 

And hush'd its iron tongue, 
But the spirit it awakened 

Still lives,— forever young. 
And while we greet the sunlight, 

On the fourth of each July, 
We'll ne'er forget the bellman, 

Who, twixt the earth and sky, 
Rung out Our Independence : 

Which, please God, shall never die! 



SELECTED READINGS 85 

HISTORY OF OUR FLAG. 

The history of our glorious old flag is of ex- 
ceeding interest, and brings back to us a 
throng of sacred and thrilling associations. The 
banner of St. Andrew was blue, charged with a 
white altier or cross, in the form of the letter 
X, and was used in Scotland as early as the 
eleventh century. The banner of St. George 
was white, charged with the red cross, and was 
used in England as early as the first part of the 
fourteenth century. By a royal proclamation, 
dated April 12, 1700, these two crosses were 
joined together upon the same banner, forming 
the ancient national flag of England. 

It was not until Ireland, in 1801, was made a 
part of Great Britain, that the present national 
flag of England, so well known as the Union 
Jack, was completed. But it was the ancient 
flag of England that constituted the basis of our 
American banner. Various other flags had in- 
deed been raised at other times by our colonial 
ancestors. But they were not particularly asso- 
ciated with, or, at least were not incorporated 
into and made a part of the destined ' ' Stars and 
Stripes." 

It was after Washington had taken command 
of the first army of the Revolution, at Cam- 
bridge, that he unfolded before them the new 
flag of thirteen stripes of alternate red and 
white, having upon one of its corners the red 
and white crosses of St. George and St. Andrew, 
on a field of blue. And this was the standard 



86 PATRIOTIC RECITATIONS 

which was borne into the city of Boston when it 
was evacuated by the British troops and was 
entered by the American army. 

Uniting, as it did, the flags of England and 
America, it showed that the colonists were not 
yet prepared to sever the tie that bound them 
to the mother-country. By that union of flags, 
they claimed to be a vital and substantial part 
of the empire of Great Britain, and demanded 
the rights and privileges which such a relation 
implied. Yet it was by these thirteen stripes 
that they made known the union also of the 
thirteen colonies, the stripes of white declaring 
the purity and innocence of their cause, and the 
stripes of red giving forth defiance to cruelty 
and opposition. 

On the 14th day of June, 1777, it was resolved 
by Congress, "That the flag of the thirteen 
United States be thirteen stripes, alternate red 
and white, and the Union be thirteen white stars 
in the blue field." This resolution was made 
public September 3, 1777, and the flag that was 
first made and used in pursuance of it was that 
which led the Americans to victory at Saratoga. 
Here the thirteen stars were arranged in a cir- 
cle, as we sometimes see them now, in order bet- 
ter to express the union of the States. 

In 1794, there having been two more new 
States added to the Union, it was voted that the 
alternate stripes, as well as the circling stars, 
be fifteen in number, and the flag, as thus alt- 
ered and enlarged, was the one which was borne 
through all the contests of the war of 1812. But 



SELECTED READINGS 87 

it was thought that the flag would at length be- 
come too large if a new stripe should be added 
with every freshly-admitted State. It was 
therefore enacted, in 1818, that a permanent re- 
turn should be made to the original number of 
thirteen stripes, and the number of stars should 
henceforth correspond to the growing number 
of States. 

Thus the flag would symbolize the Union as it 
might be at any given period of its history, and 
also as it was at the very hour of its birth. It 
was at the same time suggested that these stars, 
instead of being arranged in a circle, should be 
formed into a single star— a suggestion which 
we occasionally see adopted. In fine, no par- 
ticular order seems now to be observed with re- 
spect to the arrangement of the constellation. 
It is enough if only the whole number be there 
upon that azure field— the blue to be emblema- 
tical of perseverance, vigilance and justice, 
each star to signify the glory of the State it 
may represent, and the whole to be eloquent 
forever of a Union that must be "one and in- 
separable. ' ' 

What precious associations cluster around ouu 
flag! Not alone have our fathers set up this 
banner in the name of God over the well-won 
battle-fields of the Revolution, and over the 
cities and towns which they rescued from des- 
potic rule; but think where also their descend- 
ants have carried it, and raised it in conquest 
or protection! Through what clouds of dust 
and smoke has it passed— what storms of shot 



88 PATRIOTIC RECITATIONS 

and shell— what scenes of fire and blood ! Not 
only at Saratoga, at Monmouth and at York- 
town, but at Lundy's Lane and New Orleans, 
at Buena Vista and Chapultepec. It is the same 
glorious old flag which, inscribed with the dying 
words of Lawrence, "Don't give up the ship,'' 
was hoisted on Lake Erie by Commodore Perry 
just on the eve of his great naval victory— the 
same old flag which our great chieftain bore in 
triumph to the proud city of the Aztecs, and 
planted upon the heights of her national palace. 
Brave hands raised it above the eternal regions 
of ice in the Arctic seas, and have set it up on 
the summits of the lofty mountains of the dis- 
tant West. 

Where has it not gone, the pride of its friends 
and the terror of its foes ! What countries and 
what seas has it not visited ? Where has not the 
American citizen been able to stand beneath its 
guardian folds and defy the world ? With what 
joy and exultation seamen and tourists have 
gazed upon its stars and stripes, read in it the 
history of their nation's glory, received from it 
the full sense of security, and drawn from it 
the inspirations of patriotism ! By it, how many 
have sworn fealty to their country! 

What bursts of magnificent eloquence it has 
called forth from Webster and from Everett! 
What lyric strains of poetry from Drake and 
Holmes ! How many heroes its folds have cov- 
ered in death ! How many have lived for it, 
and how many have died for it! How many, 
living and dying, have said, in their enthusi- 



SELECTED READINGS 89 

astic devotion to its honor, like that young 
wounded sufferer in the streets of Baltimore, 
"Oh, the flag? the Stars and Stripes!" and, 
wherever that flag has gone, it has been the her- 
ald of a better day— it has been the pledge of 
freedom, of justice, of order, of civilization, and 
of Christianity. Tyrants only have hated it, 
and the enemies of mankind alone have tram- 
pled it to the earth. All who sigh for the tri- 
umph of truth and righteousness love and sa- 
lute it. Rev. A. P. Putnam. 



OUR COUNTRY'S GREATNESS. 

Look at it Senators of the South. Just think 
of the great future which these thirty-eight 
American States have before them. Precious 
and glorious as is their history in the past, it 
dwarfs and pales before the great hope that 
opens before them. Think of imperial New 
York with the commerce which brings the 
wealth of all nations to her gates. Think of 
mighty Pennsylvania, with her mines and her- 
factories. Think of Massachusetts, home of the 
scholar and the workman. Think of the great 
Northwest, with its million farms, its million 
homes, in each of which liberty dwells a per- 
petual guest. Think of that great coast, where, 
on the shores of a more pacific sea, men of our 
own blood and kindred are in the near future 
to build States and institutions, compared with 



90 PATRIOTIC RECITATIONS 

which anything the East has seen is poor and 
mean. The streets of a wealthier New York, the 
halls of a more learned Harvard, the homes of 
a more cultured Boston, the workshops of a 
busier Philadelphia, shall grow up on the shore 
of that vast ocean, across which the American 
people gaze at the monuments of the oldest 
civilization of the past. 

Where will you be men of the South? What 
shall be the place of your States in this glorious 
race? Do you wish to be left behind, sucking 
your thumbs, nursing your wrath, stirring the 
dregs of an effete and rotten past, cherishing 
the memory of ancient wrong and crime, study- 
ing the American Constitution to see how much 
of slavery there is left in it? Will you bring 
up your young men to share in the imperial 
glory, and beauty, and hope, which the future 
has for these great American States, or bring 
them up half ruffian and half assassin ? Do not 
understand that I charge they are that now. 
But I say that the policy you are tolerating will 
bring them to that. Virginia, and Georgia, and 
Alabama, and Texas, are far more richly en- 
dowed with opportunity than any States of the 
North. The States of the South have their 
great history of the times of their settlement, of 
the days of the Revolution, of the administra- 
tion of the Government in the early days of the 
Constitution. They have their rich lands, and 
their mighty streams, their lofty mountains, 
their vast and fertile fields, their willing labor- 
ers, their brave and restless people. Why will 



SELECTED READINGS 91 

they not embrace and welcome the one thing 
needed to place them far in advance of the other 
American States ; and that is the great doctrine 
of justice and of the Constitution, which shall 
secure to every man, white or black, dwelling 
upon their soil, his manhood, his honor, his free- 
dom, his equal suffrage as an American citizen. 

George F. Hoar. 




THE CONSTITUTION AND THE PEOPLE. 

This country, with its institutions, belongs to 
the people who inhabit it. Whenever they shall 
grow weary of the existing government, they 
can exercise their constitutional right of amend- 
ing, or their revolutionary right to dismember 
or overthrow it. I cannot be ignorant of the 
fact that many worthy and patriotic citizens 
are desirous of having the national Constitution 
amended. While I make no recommendation 
of amendment, I fully recognize the full au- 
thority of the people over the whole subject, to 
be exercised in either of the modes prescribed 
in the instrument itself; and I should,, under 
existing circumstances, favor, rather than op- 
pose, a fair opportunity's being afforded the 
people to act upon it. I will venture to add, 
that to me the conventional mode seems prefera- 
ble, in that it allows amendments to originate 
with the people themselves, instead of only per- 
mitting them to take or reject propositions or- 



92 PATRIOTIC RECITATIONS 

iginated by others not especially chosen for the 
purpose, and which might not be precisely such 
as they would wish either to accept or refuse. 
I understand that a proposed amendment to the 
Constitution has passed Congress, to the effect 
that the Federal Government shall never inter- 
fere with the domestic institutions of States, in- 
cluding that of persons held to service. To 
avoid misconstruction of what I have said, I de- 
part from my purpose not to speak of particular 
amendments, so far as to say, that, holding 
such a provision to be now implied constitu- 
tional law, I have no objection to its being made 
express and irrevocable. The chief magistrate 
derives all his authority from the people, and 
they have conferred none upon him to fix the 
terms for the separation of the States. The 
people themselves, also, can do this if they 
choose; but the executive, as such, has nothing 
to do with it. His duty is to administer the 
present government as it came into his hands, 
and to transmit it, unimpaired by him, to his 
successor. Why should there not be a patient 
confidence in the ultimate justice of the people ? 
Is there any better or any equal hope in the 
world ? In our differences, is either party with- 
out faith of being in the right? If the Al- 
mighty Ruler of nations, with His eternal truth 
and justice, be on your side of the North, or on 
yours of the South, that truth and that justice 
will surely prevail by the judgment of this great 
tribunal— the American people. By the frame 
of the government under which we live, this 




SELECTED READINGS 93 

same people have wisely given their public serv- 
ants but little power for mischief, and have with 
equal wisdom provided for the return of that 
little to their own hands at very short intervals. 
While the people retain their virtue and vigil- 
ance, no administration, by any extreme wicked- 
ness or folly, can very seriously injure the gov- 
ernment in the short space of four years. My 
countrymen, one and all, think calmly and well 
upon this whole subject. Nothing valuable can 
be lost by taking time. If there be an object to 
hurry any of you, in hot haste, to a step which 
you would never take deliberately, that object 
will be frustrated by taking time; but no good 
object can be frustrated by it. Such of you as are 
now dissatisfied still have the old Constitution 
unimpaired, and, on the sensitive point, the 
laws of your own framing under it; while the 
new administration will have no immediate 
power, if it would, to change either. If it were 
admitted that you who are dissatisfied hold the 
right side in the dispute, there is still no single 
reason for precipitate action. Intelligence, 
patriotism, Christianity, and a firm reliance on 
Him who has never yet forsakei^this favored- 
land, are still competent to adjust, in the best 
way, all our present difficulties. In your hands, 
my dissatisfied fellow-countrymen, and not in 
mine, is the momentous issue of civil war. The 
government will not assail you. You can have 
no conflict without being yourselves the aggres- 
sors. You can have no oath registered in heav- 
en to destroy the government ; while I shall have 



94 PATRIOTIC RECITATIONS 

the most solemn one to "preserve, protect, and 
defend it." I am loth to close. We are not 
enemies, but friends. We must not be enemies. 
Though passion may have strained, it must not 
break, our bonds of affection. The mystic 
chords of memory, stretching from every battle- 
field and patriot-grave to every living heart and 
hearthstone all over this broad land, will yet 
swell the chorus of the Union, when again 
touched, as surely they will be, by the better 
angels of our nature. 
Abraham Lincoln's Inaugural Address, 1861. 



THE BATTLE-FLAGS. 

At the opening of the session of Congress in 
1872, Charles Sumner reintroduced two meas- 
ures which, as he thought, should complete the 
record of his political life. One was his Civil 
Rights bill, which had failed in the last Con- 
gress, and the other a resolution providing that 
the names of the battles won over fellow-citi- 
zens in the War of the Rebellion should be re- 
moved from the regimental colors of the army, 
and from the army register. It was indeed only 
a repetition of a resolution which he had intro- 
duced ten years before, in 1862, during the war, 
when the first names of victories were put on 
American battleships. This resolution called 
forth a new storm against him. It was de- 
nounced as an insult to the heroic soldiers of the 



SELECTED READINGS 95 

Union, and a degradation of their victories and 
well-earned laurels. It was condemned as an 
unpatriotic act. 

Charles Sumner insult the soldiers who had 
spilled their blood in a war for human rights! 
Charles Sumner degrade victories, and depre- 
ciate laurels won for the cause of universal free- 
dom! How strange an imputation! 

Let the dead man have a hearing. This was 
his thought: No civilized nation, from the re- 
publics of antiquity down to our days, ever 
thought it wise or patriotic to preserve in con- 
spicuous and durable form the mementoes of 
victories won over fellow citizens in civil war. 
Why not ? Because every citizen shall feel him- 
self, with all others, as the child of a common 
country, and not as a defeated foe. All civil- 
ized governments of our days have instinctively 
followed the same dictate of wisdom and pa- 
triotism. The Irishman, when fighting for Old 
England at Waterloo, was not to behold on the 
red cross floating above him the name of the 
Boyne. The Scotch Highlander, when standing 
in the trenches of Sebastopol, was not by the col- 
ors of his regiment to be reminded of Culloden. 
No French soldier at Austerlitz or Solferino had 
to read upon the tricolor any reminiscence of 
the Vendee. No Hungarian at Sadowa was 
taunted by any Austrian banner with the sur- 
render of Villagos. No German regiment, from 
Saxony or Hanover, charging under the iron 
hail of Gravelotte, was made to remember by 
words written on a Prussian standard that the 



96 PATRIOTIC RECITATIONS 

Black Eagle had conquered them at Konig- 
gratz and Langensalza. Should the son of 
South Carolina, when at some future day de- 
fending the Republic against some foreign foe, 
be reminded by an inscription on the colors float- 
ing over him that under this flag the gun was 
fired that killed his father at Gettysburg? 
Should this great and enlightened Republic, 
proud of standing in the front of human pro- 
gress, be less wise, less large-hearted, than the 
ancients were two thousand years ago, and the 
kingly governments of Europe are to-day? Let 
the battle-flags of the brave volunteers, which 
they brought home from the war with the glori- 
ous record of their victories, be preserved in- 
tact as a proud ornament of our Statehouses 
and armories. But let the colors of the army 
under which the sons of all the States are to 
meet and mingle in common patriotism, speak 
of nothing but union— not a union of conquer- 
ors and conquered, but a union which is the 
mother of all, equally tender to all, knowing of 
nothing but equality, peace, and love among her 
children. Do you want shining mementoes of 
your victories ? They are written upon the dusky 
brow of every freeman who was once a slave; 
they are written on the gate-posts of a restored 
Union ; and the most shining of all will be writ- 
ten on the faces of a contented people, reunited 
in common national pride. Carl Schurz. 



SELECTED READINGS 97 

THE UNION OF THE STATES. 

The political prosperity which this country 
has attained, and which it now enjoys, it has 
acquired mainly through the instrumentality of 
the present government. While this agent con- 
tinues, the capacity of attaining to still higher 
degrees of prosperity exists also. AVe have, 
while this lasts, a political life, capable of bene- 
ficial exertion, with power to resist or overcome 
misfortunes, to sustain us against the ordinary 
accidents of human affairs, and to promote, by 
active efforts, every public interest. 

But dismemberment strikes at the very being 
which preserves these faculties ; it would lay its 
rude and ruthless hand on this great agent it- 
self. It would sweep away, not only what we 
possess, but all power of regaining lost, or ac- 
quiring new, possessions. It would leave the 
country not only bereft of its prosperity and 
happiness, but without limbs, or organs, or fac- 
ulties, by which to exert itself, hereafter, in the 
pursuit of that prosperity and happiness. 

Other misfortunes may be borne, or their 
effects overcome. If disastrous Avar sweep our 
commerce from the ocean, another generation 
may renew it; if it exhausts our treasury, future 
industry may replenish it; if it desolate and lay 
waste our fields, still, under a new cultivation, 
they will grow green again, and ripen to future 
harvests. It were but a trifle, even if the walls 
of yonder Capitol were to crumble, if its lofty 
pillars should fall, and its gorgeous decorations 
be all covered by the dust of the valley. 



98 PATRIOTIC RECITATIONS 

All these might be rebuilt. But who shall re- 
construct the fabric of demolished government? 
Who shall rear again the well-proportioned col- 
umns of constitutional liberty? Who shall 
frame together the skillful architecture which 
unites national sovereignty with State rights, 
individual security, and public prosperity? 

If these columns fall, they will be raised not 
again. Like the Coliseum and the Panthenon, 
they will be destined to a mournful, a melan- 
choly immortality. Bitterer tears, however, will 
flow over them than were ever shed over the 
monuments of Roman or Grecian art; for they 
will be the remnants of a more glorious edifice 
than Greece or Rome ever saw— the edifice of 
constitutional American liberty. 

But let us hope for better things. Let us 
trust in that gracious Being, who has hitherto 
held our country as in the hollow of His hand. 
Let us trust to the virtue and the intelligence of 
the people, and the efficacy of religious obliga- 
tion. Let us trust to the influence of Washing- 
ton's example. Let us hope that that fear of 
Heaven, which expels all other fear, and that 
regard to duty, which transcends all other re- 
gard, may influence public men and private 
citizens, and lead our country still onward in 
her happy career. 

Full of these gratifying anticipations and 
hopes, let us look forward to the end of that 
century which is now commenced. A hundred 
years hence, other disciples of Washington will 
celebrate his birth, with no less of sincere ad- 



SELECTED READINGS 09 

miration than we now commemorate it. When 
they shall meet, as we now meet ; to do them- 
selves and him that honor, so surely as they 
shall see the blue summits of his native moun- 
tains rise in the horizon ; so surely as they shall 
behold the river on whose banks he lived, and on 
whose banks he rests, still flowing to the sea ; 
so surely may they see, as we now see, the flag 
of the Union floating on the top of the Capitol ; 
and then, as now, may the sun in his course visit 
no land more free, more lovely, than this, our 
own country. Daniel Webster. 



AFTER THE BATTLE. 



The drums are all muffled, the bugles are still; 
There 's a pause in the valley, a halt on the hill ; 
And bearers of standards swerve back with a 
thrill 
Where sheaves of the dead bar the way; 
For a great field it reaped, Heaven's garners to 
fill, 
And stern Death holds his harvest to-day. 

There's a voice in the wind like a spirit's low 

cry; 
'Tis the muster-roll sounding— and who shall 

reply 
For those whose wan faces glare white to the- 

sky, 
With eyes fixed so steadfast and dimly, 



100 PATRIOTIC RECITATIONS 

As they wait the last trump, which they may 
not defy, 
Whose hands clutch the sword-hilt so grimly? 

The brave heads late lifted are solemnly bowed, 
As the riderless chargers stand quivering and 

cowed— 
As the burial requiem is chanted aloud, 

The groans of the death-stricken drowning, 
While Victory looks on like a queen pale and 
proud 
Who awaits till the morning her crowning. 

There is no mocking blazon, as clay sinks to 

clay; 
The vain pomps of peace-time are an swept 

away 
In the terrible face of the dread battle-day ; 

Nor coffins nor shroudings are here; 
Only relics that lay where thickest the fray— 
A rent casque and a headless spear. 

Far away, tramp on tramp, sounds the march 

of the foe, 
Like a storm-wave retreating, spent, fitful and 

slow ; 
With sound like their spirits that faint as they 

go 
By the red-glowing river, whose waters 
Shall darken with sorrow the land where they 

flow 
To the eyes of her desolate daughters. 



SELECTED READINGS 101 

They are fled— they are gone; but, oh! not as 

they came; 
In the pride of those numbers they staked on 

the game, 
Never more shall they stand in the vanguard of 
fame, 
Never lift the stained sword which they drew ; 
Never more shall they boast of a glorious name, 
Never march with the leal and the true. 

Where the wreck of our legions lay stranded 

and torn, 
They stole on our ranks in the mist of the morn ; 
Like the giant of Gaza, their strength it was 
shorn 
Ere those mists have rolled up to the sky ; 
From the flash of the steel a new day-break 
seemed born, 
As we sprang up to conquer or die. 

The tumult is silenced; the death-lots are cast, 
And the heroes of battle are slumbering their 

last ; 
Do you dream of yon pale form that rode on the 
blast ? 
Would ye see it once more, ye brave? 
Yes— the broad road to honor is red where ye 
passed, 
And of glory ye asked— but a grave ! 

Anon. 



102 PATRIOTIC RECITATIONS 

AMERICA. 

Search creation round, where can you find a 
country that presents so sublime a view, so in- 
teresting an anticipation? What noble institu- 
tions! What a comprehensive policy! What a 
wise equalization of every political advantage ! 
The oppressed of all countries, the martyrs of 
every creed, the innocent victim of despotic ar- 
rogance or superstitious frenzy, may there find 
refuge ; his industry encouraged, his piety re- 
spected, his ambition animated; with no re- 
straint but those laws which are the same to all, 
and not distinction but that which his merit may 
originate. Who can deny that the existence of 
such a country presents a subject for human 
congratulation? Who can deny that its 
gigantic advancement offers a field for the most 
rational conjecture? At the end of the very 
next century, if she proceeds as she seems to 
promise, what a wondrous spectacle may she 
not exhibit ! Who shall say for what purpose 
mysterious Providence may not have designed 
her? Who shall say that when in its follies or 
its crimes, the old world may have buried all 
the pride of its power, and all the pomp of its 
civilization, human nature may not find its 
destined renovation in the new ? When its tem- 
ples and its trophies shall have mouldered into 
dust, — when the glories of its name shall be 
but the legend of tradition, and the light of its 
achievements live only in song, philosophy will 
revive again in the sky of her Franklin, and 
glory rekindle at the urn of her Washington. 




SELECTED READINGS 103 



Is this the vision of romantic fancy? Is it 
even improbable? Is it half so improbable as 
the events which, for the last twenty years, have 
rolled like successive tides over the surface of 
the European world, each erasing the impres- 
sions that preceded it ? Many, I know, there are, 
who will consider this supposition as wild and 
whimsical, but they have dwelt with little re- 
flection upon the records of the past. They 
have but ill-observed the progress of national 
rise and national ruin. They form their judg- 
ment on the deceitful stability of the present 
hour, never considering the innumerable monar- 
chies and republics, in former days, apparently 
as permanent, their very existence become now 
the subject of speculation — I had almost said of 
scepticism. I appeal to history ! Tell me, thou 
reverend chronicler of the grave, can all the 
illusions of ambition realized, can all the wealth 
of a universal commerce, can all the achieve- 
ments of successful heroism, or all the establish- 
ments of this world's wisdom, secure to empire 
the permanency of its possessions ? Alas ! Troy 
thought so once, yet the land of Priam lives only 
in song ! Thebes thought so once, yet her hun- 
dred gates have crumbled, and her very tombs 
are but as the dust they were vainly intended 
to commemorate ! So thought Palmyra — Avhere 
is she ? So thought Persepolis, and now— 
"You waste, where roaming lions howl, 
Yon aisle, where moans the grey-eyed owl, 
Shows the proud Persian's great abode, 
Where sceptred once, an earthly god, 



104 PATRIOTIC RECITATIONS 

His power-clad arm controlled each happier 

clime, 
Where sports the warbling muse, and fancy 

soars sublime." 

So thought the countries of Demosthenes and 
the Spartan; yet Leonid as is trampled by the 
timid slave, and Athens insulted by the servile, 
mindless, and enervate Ottoman ! In his hurried 
march, Time has but looked at their imagined 
immortality, and all its vanities, from the pal- 
ace to the tomb, have, with their ruins, erased 
the very impression of his footsteps! The days 
of their glory are as if they had never been; 
and the island that was then a speck, rude and 
neglected, in the barren ocean, now rivals the 
ubiquity of their commerce, the glory of their 
arms, the fame of their philosophy, the elo- 
quence of their senate, and the inspiration of 
their bards! Who shall say, then, contemplat- 
ing the past, that England, proud and potent 
as she appears, may not one day be what Athens 
was? Who shall say, when the European col- 
umn shall have mouldered, and the night of 
barbarism obscured its very ruins, that that 
mighty continent may not emerge from the 
horizon, to rule, for its time, sovereign of the 
ascendant ? 

Such, sir, is the natural progress of human 
operations, and such the unsubstantial mockery 
of human pride. Charles Phillips. 



SELECTED READINGS 105 

THE AMERICAN FLAG. 

A thoughtful mind, when it sees a nation's 
flag, sees not the flag only, but the nation itself ; 
and whatever may be its symbols, its insignia, 
he reads chiefly in the flag the government, the 
principles, the truth, the history, which belong- 
to the nation that sets it forth. 

When the French tricolor rolls out to the 
wind, we see France. When the new-found 
Italian flag is unfurled, we see resurrected 
Italy. When the other three-cornered Hunga- 
rian flag shall be lifted to the wind, we shall see 
in it the long-buried but never dead principles 
of Hungarian liberty. When the united crosses 
of St. Andrew and St. George on a fiery ground 
set forth the banner of Old England, we see not 
the cloth merely; there rises up before the mind 
the noble aspect of that monarchy, which, more 
than any other on the globe, has advanced its 
banner for liberty, law, and national prosperity. 

This nation has a banner too; and wherever 
it streamed abroad, men saw daybreak bursting 
on their eyes, for the American flag has been 
the symbol of liberty, and men rejoiced in it. 
Not another flag on the globe had such an er- 
rand, or went forth upon the sea, carrying ev- 
erywhere, the glorious tidings. 

The stars upon it were to the pining nations 
like the morning stars of God, and the stripes 
upon it were beams of morning light. 

As at early dawn the stars stand first, and 
then it grows light, and then as the sun ad- 
vances, that light breaks into banks and 



106 PATRIOTIC RECITATIONS 

streaming lines of color, the glowing red and 
intense white striving together and ribbing the 
horizon with bars effulgent, so on the American 
flag, stars and beams of many-colored light 
shine out together. And wherever the flag 
comes, and men behold it, they see in its sacred 
emblazonry no rampant lion and fierce eagle, 
bnt only light, and ever fold significant of 
liberty. 

The history of this banner is all on one side. 
Under it rode Washington and his armies; be- 
fore it Burgoyne laid down his arms. It waved 
on the highlands at West Point; it floated over 
old Fort Montgomery. When Arnold would 
have surrendered these valuable fortresses and 
precious legacies, his night was turned into day, 
and his treachery was driven away, by the 
beams of light from this starry banner. 

It cheered our army, driven from New York, 
in their solitary pilgrimage through New Jersey. 
It streamed in light over Valley Forge and Mor- 
ristown. It crossed the waters rolling with ice 
at Trenton; and when its stars gleamed in the 
cold morning with victory, a new day of hope 
dawned on the despondency of the nation. And 
when, at length, the long years of war were 
drawing to a close, underneath the folds of this 
immortal banner sat Washington while York- 
town surrendered its hosts, and our Revolu- 
tionary struggles ended with victory. 

Let us then twine each thread of the glorious 
tissue of our country's flag about our heart- 
strings ; and looking upon our homes and catch- 



SELECTED READINGS 107 

ing the spirit that breathes upon us from the 
battle-fields of our fathers, let us resolve, come 
weal or woe, we will, in life and in death, now 
and forever, stand by the stars and stripes. 
They have been unfurled from the snows of 
Canada to the plains of New Orleans, in the 
halls of the Montezuma s and amid the solitude 
of every sea; and everywhere, as the luminous 
symbol of resistless and beneficent power, they 
have led the brave to victory and to glory. They 
have floated over our cradles ; let it be our pray- 
er and our struggle that they shall float over 
our graves. H. W. Beecher. 



THE PATRIOT SPY. 



No drum-beat and heart-beat 

A soldier marches by; 
There is color in his cheek, 

There is courage in his eye; 
Yet to drum-beat and heart-beat 

In a moment he must die. 

By starlight and moonlight 
He seeks the Briton's camp; 

He hears the rustling flag, 

And the armed sentry's tramp; 

And the starlight and the moonlight 
His silent wanderings lamp. 

With slow tread and still tread 
He scans the tented line ; 



108 PATRIOTIC RECITATIONS 

And he counts the battery guns 
By the gaunt and shadowy pine, 

And his slow tread and still tread 
Gives no warning sign. 

The dark wave, the plumed wave! 

It meets his eager glance ; 
And it sparkles 'neath the stars 

Like the glimmer of a lance; 
A dark wave, a plumed wave, 

On an emerald expanse. 

A sharp clang, a steel clang ! 

And terror in the sound; 
For the sentry, falcon-eyed, 

In the camp a spy hath found; 
With a sharp clang, a steel clang, 

The patriot is bound. 

With calm brow, steady brow, 

He listens to his doom; 
In his look there is no fear, 

Nor a shadow-trace of gloom; 
But with calm brow and steady brow 

He robes him for the tomb. 

In the long night, the still night, 

He kneels upon the sod ; 
And the brutal guards withhold 

E 'en the solemn Word of God ! 
In the long night, the still night, 

He walks where Christ had trod. 



SELECTED READINGS 109 

'Neath the blue morn, the sunny morn, 

He dies upon the tree ; 
And he mourns that he can lose 

But one life for liberty; 
And in the blue morn, the sunny morn, 

His spirit-wings are free. 

But his last words, his message-words, 

They burn, lest friendly eye 
Should read how proud and calm 

A patriot could die, * 
With his last words, his dying words, 

A soldier's battle-cry! 

From Fame-leaf and Angel-leaf, 

From monument and urn, 
The sad of earth, the glad of heaven, 

His tragic fate shall learn; 
And on Fame-leaf and Angel-leaf 
The name of Hale* shall burn. 

F. N. Finch. 
*Nathan Hale, the patriot martyr of the Revo- 
lution. 



UNION OF BLUE AND GRAY. 



The Blue is marching South once more, 
With serried steel and stately tread; 

Their martial music pealed before, 
Their flag of stars flashed overhead. 

Ah ! not through storm and stress they come, 



110 PATRIOTIC RECITATIONS 

The thunders of old hate are dumb, 
And frank as clear October's ray 
This meeting of the Blue and Gray. 

The Phoenix from her outworn fires, 

Her gory ashes, rising free, 
Pair Charleston, with her stainless spires, 

Gleams by the silver-stranded sea. 
No hurtling hail nor hostile ball 
Breaks through the treacherous battle-pall; 
True voices speak from hearts as true. 
For strife lies dead 'twixt Gray and Blue. 

Grim Sumter, like a Titan maimed, 

Still glooms beyond his shattered keep; 

But where his bolts of lightning flamed, 
There broods a quiet, mild as sleep. 

His granite base, long cleansed of blood, 

Is circled by a golden flood; 

Type of that peace whose sacred sway 

Enfolds the Blue, exalts the Gray. 

The sea-tides faintly rise afar. 

And— wings of all the breezes furled— 
Seem slowly borne o 'er beach and bar, 

Dream-murmurings from a spirit world. 
Through throbbing drum and bugle trill, 
The distant calm seems deeper still,— 
Deep as that faith whose cordial dew 
Hath soothed the Gray and charmed the Blue. 

O'er Ashley's breast the autumn smiles, 
All mellowed in her hazy fold, 



SELECTED READINGS 111 

While the white arms of languid isles 

Are girdled by ethereal gold. 
All nature whispers : War is o 'er, 
Fierce feuds have fled, our sea and shore ; 
Old wrongs forget, old ties renew, 
O heroes of the Gray and Blue ! 

The Southern Palm and Northern Pine 
No longer clash through leaf and bough; 

Tranquil of depth benign 

Have bound their blending foliage now ; 

Serene they shine in sun-lit noon, 

Or, tranced by cloudless star and moon, 

Their equal shadows softly play 

Above the Blue, across the Gray. 

Paul H. Hayne. 



AN ODE TO INDEPENDENCE HALL. 
J. Stevenson Mitchell. 

No sculptured marble greets the pilgrim's view; 
No gothie dome the ambient zephyrs fan; 

No golden spires salute the ethereal blue- 
Shrine of enfranchised man! 

Thou Mecca of a freedom-loving land ! 

Voice to all nations struggling to be free ! 
May thy plain walls in after ages stand, 

And tyrants bend to thee. 

Ye who have wandered o'er historic climes, 
Who've stood upon the seven hills of Rome,. 



112 PATRIOTIC RECITATIONS 

And drank the music of St. Peter's chimes, 
And trod beneath its dome; 

Ye who have stood on Britain's royal isle, 
And paused enraptured with some sacred 
hymn 

Which echoed through St. Paul's aspiring pile, 
Like answering cherubim ; 

Ye who have trod the imperial streets of Gaul— 
Where waved of old the golden oriflamme— 

And paused to catch the vespers as they fall 
And float from Notre Dame;— 

Forget not this memorial of our love— 
This silent witness of a noble deed,— 

Hallowed beyond all storied piles of yore, 
By freedom's bond decreed! 

Thy ancient bell, from out its brazen throat, 
Still echoes music that it pealed of yore ; 

And through the listening ages it shall float, 
A hope for evermore. 



CENTENNIAL ORATION. 
Henry Armitt Brown. 

Peroration from the oration delivered upon 
the occasion of the Centennial Anniversary of 
the meeting of the first Colonial Congress in 
Carpenter's Hall, Philadelphia. 



SELECTED READINGS 113 

The conditions of life are always changing, 
and the experience of tne fathers is rarely the 
experience of the sons. The temptations which 
beset their foosteps, nor the dangers which 
threaten our pathway the dangers which sur- 
rounded them. These men were few in num- 
ber; we are many. They were poor, but we are 
rich. They were weak, but we are strong. What 
is it, countrymen, that we need to-day ? Wealth ? 
Behold it in your hands. Power? God hath 
given it you. Liberty? It is your birthright. 
Peace? It dwells amongst you. You have a 
Government founded in the hearts of men, built 
by the people for the common good. You have 
a land flowing with milk and honey ; your homes 
are happy, your workshops busy, your barns are 
full. The school, the railway, the telegraph, 
the printing press, have welded you together 
into one. Descend those mines that honeycomb 
the hills 1 Behold that commerce whitening 
every sea! Stand by yon gates and see that 
multitude pour through them from the corners 
of the earth, grafting the qualities of older 
stocks upon one stem; mingling the blood of 
many races in a common stream, and swelling 
the rich volume of our English speech with 
varied music from an hundred tongues. You 
have a long and glorious history, a past glitter- 
ing with heroic deeds, an ancestry full of lofty 
and unperishable examples. You have passed 
through danger, endured privation, been ac- 
quainted with sorrow, been tried by suffering. 
You have journeyed in safety through the wil- 



114 PATRIOTIC RECITATIONS 

derness and crossed in triumph the Red Sea of 
civil strife, and the foot of Him who led you 
hath not faltered nor the light of His counte- 
nance been turned away. 

It is a question for us now, not of the found- 
ing of a new government, but of the preserva- 
tion of one already old ; not of the formation of 
an independent power, but of the purification 
of a nation's life; not of the conquest of a 
foreign foe, but of the subjection of ourselves. 
The capacity of man to rule himself is to be 
proven in the days to come, not by the great- 
ness of his wealth; not by his valor in the 
field.; not by the extent of his dominion, nor 
by the splendor of his genius. The dangers 
of to-day come from within. The worship of 
self, the love of power, the lust for gold, the 
weakening of faith, the decay of public virtue, 
the lack of private worth— these are the perils 
which threaten our future; there are the ene- 
mies we have to fear; these are the traitors 
which infest the camp ; and the danger was far 
less when Cataline knocked with his army at 
the gates of Rome, than when he sat smiling in 
the Senate House. We see them daily face to 
face; in the walk of virtue; in the road to 
wealth; in the path to honor; on the way to 
happiness. There is no peace between them 
and our safety. Nor can we avoid them and 
turn back. It is not enough to rest upon the 
past. No man or nation can stand still. We 
must mount upward or go down. We must 



SELECTED READINGS 



115 



grow worse or better. It is the Eternal law— 
we cannot change it. 






The centnry that is opening is all our own. 
The years that lie before us are a virgin page. 
We can inscribe them as we will. The future 
of our country rests upon us; the happiness 
of posterity depends upon us. The fate of hu- 
manity may be in our hands. That pleading 
voice, choked with the sobs of ages, which has 
so often spoken to deaf ears, is lifted up to us. 
It asks us to be brave, benevolent, consistent, 
true to the teachings of our history, proving 
"divine descent by worth divine." It asks us to 
be virtuous— building up public virtue by pri- 
vate worth; seeking that righteousness which 
exalteth nations. It asks us to be patriotic- 
loving country before all other things ; her hap- 
piness our happiness, her honor ours, her fame 
our own. It asks us, in the name of justice, in 
the name of charity, in the name of freedom, in 
the name of God. 

My countrymen, this anniversary has gone by 
forever, and my task is done. While I have 
spoken, the hour has passed from us; the hand' 
has moved upon the dial, and the old century is 
dead. The American Union hath endured an 
hundred years! Here, on this threshold of the 
future, the voice of humanity shall not plead 
to us in vain. There shall be darkness in the 
days to come; danger for our courage; tempta- 
tion for our virtue ; doubt for our faith ; suffer- 
ing for our fortitude. A thousand shall fall 



116 PATRIOTIC RECITATION^ 

before us, and tens of thousands at our right 
hand. The years shall pass beneath our feet, 
and century follow century in quick succession. 
The generations of men shall come and go; the 
greatness of yesterday shall be forgotten: to- 
day and the glories of this noon shall vanish 
before to-morrow's sun; but America shall not 
perish, but endure while the spirit of our 
fathers animates their sons. 



PRESIDENT LINCOLN'S ADDRESS AT 

THE DEDICATION OF GETTYSBURG 

CEMETERY. 

November, 186-4. 

Fourscore and seven years ago our fathers 
brought forth upon this continent a new na- 
tion, conceived in liberty, and dedicated to the 
proposition that all men are created equal. Now 
we are engaged in a great civil war, testing 
whether that nation, or any nation, so con- 
ceived and so dedicated, can long endure. We 
are met on a great battlefield of that war. We 
are met to dedicate a portion of it as the final 
resting-place of those who here gave their lives 
that that nation might live. 

It is altogether fitting and proper that we 
should do this. But in a larger sense we cannot 
dedicate, we cannot consecrate, we cannot hal- 
low this ground. The brave men, living and 
dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it 



SELECTED READINGS 117 

far above our power to add or detract. The 
world will little note, nor long remember what 
we say here, but it can never forget what they 
did here. 

It is for us, the living, rather to be dedicated 
here to the- unfinished work they have thus far 
so nobly carried on. It is rather for us to be 
here dedicated to the great task remaining be- 
fore us, that from these honored dead we take 
increased devotion to the cause for which they 
gave the last full measure of devotion; that we 
here highly resolve that these dead shall not 
have died in vain, that the nation shall, under 
God, have a new birth of freedom, and that 
the government of the people, by the people, 
and for the people, shall not perish from the 
earth. 



CALDWELL OF SPRINGFIELD. 



Here's the spot. Look around you. Above, on 

the height, 
Lay the Hessians encamped. By that church 

on the right 
Stood the gaunt Jersey farmers. And here ran 

a wall— 
You mav dig anvwhere and you'll turn up a 

'ball. 
Nothing more. Grasses spring, waters run, 

flowers blow. 
Pretty much as they did ninety-three years ago. 



118 PATRIOTIC RECITATIONS 

Nothing more did I say? Stay, one moment; 

you've heard 
Of Caldwell, the parson, who once preached the 

Word 
Down at Springfield ? What ! no ? Come, that 's 

bad; why he had ', 

All the Jerseys aflame ! and they gave him the 

name 
Of "the rebel high priest." He stuck in their 

gorge, 
For he loved the Lord God, and he hated King 

George ! 

He had cause, you might say! When the Hes- 
sians that day 

March up with Knyphausen, they stopped on 
their way 

At the * ' Farms, ' ' where his wife, with a child in 
her arms, 

Sat alone in the house. How it happened, none 
knew 

But God, and that one of the hireling crew 

Who fired the shot. Enough ! there she lay, 

And Caldwell, the chaplain, her husband, away ! 

Did he preach— did he pray? Think of him, 

as you stand 
By the old church, to-day; think of him, and 

that band 
Of militant plowboys! See the smoke and the 

heat 
Of that reckless advance— of that straggling 

retreat ! 



SELECTED READINGS 119 

Keep the ghost of that wife, foully slain, in 

your view— 
And what could you, what should you, what 

would you do ? 

Why, just what he did! They were left in the 

lurch 
For the want of more wadding. He ran to the 

church, 
Broke the door, stripped the pews, and dashed 

out in the road 
With his arms full of hymn-books, and threw 

down his load 
At their feet ! Then, above all the shouting and 

shots, 
Rang his voice— "Put Watts into 'em, boys! 

give 'em Watts ! ' ' 

And they did. That is all. Grasses spring, 

flowers blow, 
Pretty much as they did ninety-three years ago. 
You may dig anywhere and turn up a ball, 
But not always a hero like this— and that's 

all. Bret Harte. 




OUR COUNTRY'S CALL. 
W. C. Bryant. 

Lay down the axe, fling by the spade ; 

Leave in its track the toiling plough ; 
The rifle and the bayonet-blade 

For arms like yours are fitter now; 



120 PATRIOTIC RECITATIONS 

And let the hands that ply the pen 
Quit the light task, and learn to wield 

The horseman's crooked brand, and rein 
The charger on the battle-field. 

Our country calls; away! away! 

To where the blood-stream blots the green, 
Strike to defend the gentlest sway 

That Time in all his course has seen. 
See, from a thousand coverts — see 

Spring the armed foes that haunt her track; 
They rush to smite her down, and we 

Must beat the banded traitors back. 

Ho ! strudy as the oaks ye cleave, 

And moved as soon to fear and flight; 
Men of the glade and forest ! leave 

Your woodcraft for the field of fight. 
The arms that wield the axe must pour 

An iron tempest on the foe; 
His serried ranks shall reel before 

The arm that lays the panther low. 

And ye who breast the mountain storm 

By grassy steep or highland lake, 
Come, for the land ye love, to form 

A bulwark that no foe can break. 
Stand, like your own gray cliffs that mock 

The whirlwind; stand in her defense; 
The blast as soon shall move the rock, 

As rushing squadrons bear ye thence. 

And ye, whose homes are by her grand 



SELECTED READINGS 121 

Swift rivers, rising far away, 
Come from the depth of her green land 

As mighty in your march as they ; 
As terrible as when the rains 

Have swelled them over bank and bourne, 
With sudden floods to drown the plains 

And sweep along the woods uptorn. 

And ye who throng beside the deep, 

Her ports and hamlets of the strand, 
In number like the waves that leap 

On his long murmuring marge of sand, 
Come, like that deep, when, o'er his brim, 

He rises, all his floods to pour, 
And flings the proudest barks that swim, 

A helpless wreck against his shore. 

Few, few were they whose swords of old, 

Won the fair land in which we dwell ; 
But we are many, we who hold 

The grim resolve to guard it well. 
Strike for that broad and goodly land, 

Blow after blow, till men shall see 
That Might and Right move hand in hand, 

And glorious must their triumph be. 



WASHINGTON. 
Daniel Webster. 
Delivered at the laying of the corner stone 
of the new wing of the Capitol at Washington, 
July 4, 1851. 

Washington! Methinks I see his venerable 



122 PATRIOTIC RECITATIONS 

form now before me. He is dignified and grave ; 
but concern and anxiety seem to soften the 
lineaments of his countenance. The govern- 
ment over which he presides is yet in the crisis 
of experiment. Not free from troubles at home, 
he sees the world in commotion and arms all 
around him. He sees that imposing foreign 
powers are half disposed to try the strength of 
the recently established American government. 
Mighty thoughts, mingled with fears as well as 
with hopes, are struggling within him. He 
heads a short procession over these then naked 
fields ; he crosses yonder stream on a fallen tree ; 
he ascends to the top of this eminence, whose 
original oaks of the forest stand as thick around 
him as if the spot had been devoted to Druidical 
worship, and here he performs the appointed 
duty of the day. 

And now, if this vision were a realty; if 
Washington actually were now amongst us, and 
if he could draw around him the shades of the 
great public men of his own day, patriots and 
warriors, orators and statesmen, and were to 
address us in their presence, would he not say 
to us: "Ye men of this generation, I rejoice 
and thank God for being able to see that our 
labors, and toils, and sacrifices, were not in 
vain. You are prosperous, you are happy, you 
are grateful. The fire of liberty burns brightly 
and steadily in your hearts, while duty and the 
law restrain it from bursting forth in wild and 
destructive conflagration. Cherish liberty, as 
you love it; cherish its securities, as you wish 



SELECTED READINGS 123 

to preserve it. Maintain the Constitution which 
we labored so painfully to establish, and which 
has been to you such a source of inestimable 
blessings. Preserve the Union of the States, 
cemented as it was by our prayers, our tears, 
and our blood. Be true to God, to your country, 
and to your duty. So shall the whole Eastern 
world follow the morning sun, to contemplate 
you as a nation; so shall all generations honor 
you, as they honor us ; and so shall that Almighty 
power which so graciously protected us, and 
which now protects you, shower its everlasting 
blessing upon you and your posterity ! ' ' 



COLUMBIA. 

P. S. GlLMORE. 



A National Historic Poem first presented to 
the public at the Academy of Music, New York, 
on Christmas day, 1879. 

Columbia ! First and fairest gem 
On Nature's brow— a diadem 
Whose lustre, bright as heavenly star, 
The light of Freedom sheds afar. 
Like Noah's Ark, a God-sent bark 
In search of land, through day and dark 
First found thee held by Nature 's child, 
The red man, in his wigwam, wild. 

Columbia ! Soon the tidings spread. 
Of what Columbus saw and said; 



124 PATRIOTIC RECITATIONS 

The eyes of man then turned to thee, 
The new land rising from the sea ; 
Each spread his sail before the gale, 
To verify the wondrous tale. 
And thus began what was to be 
The hope and home of Liberty. 

Columbia! In thine early days 
Our Pilgrim Fathers sang thy praise. 
They landed from the Mayflower's deck 
On Plymouth Rock— a snow-clad speck 
That marks the place from whence the race 
Of Puritans their true blood trace, 
Who fought for Independence dear 
With hearts of steel and conscience clear. 

Columbia ! 'Twas in fire and blood 
Brave Washington the foremost stood ; 
With banner high and sword in hand, 
He drove the tyrant from the land. 
Thy breast still sore, to thy heart's core, 
Till washed again in human gore— 
In martyr blood ! Shed not in vain, — 
It left thee whole, without a stain. 

Columbia ! See, what thou art now, 
A crown of stars on Nature's brow; 
With fields of gold and teeming marts. 
With fifty million loving hearts 
Who cling to thee, from sea to sea, 
To guard thy peace and liberty; 
Who, man to man, shall e'er be just, 
And in the Lord place all their trust. 



SELECTED READINGS 125 

Columbia ! Lift thine eyes on high, 
See Him who dwells in yonder sky, 
The King of Glory on His throne, 
Who looks on all, for all's His own! 
Our earthly gain would be in vain, 
A home in heaven to attain, 
If with our hearts we did not pay 
Our debt to Him. Then let us pray. 

At morn, at noon, at eventide, 
O Lord, be ever at our side, 
That we Thy voice may always hear, 
And feel that Thou art ever near. 
In mercy spare, from grief and care 
The nation, bowed in fervent prayer, 
Who with one heart and voice implore, 
Thy blessing now and evermore. 



THE STARRY FLAG. 
Stockton Bates. 

From proud Atlantic's surging waves 
To where the broad Pacific lies, 

And playfully the bright sand laves 
Beneath clear, sunny skies; 

From far along Canadian lines, 
The rocky borders of the land, 

To where the Gulf in beauty shines, 
And breaks upon the strand ; 

From Alleghany's crested mounts, 



126 PATRIOTIC RECITATIONS 

And on the Rocky 's summits gray, 
Where, brightly, snow-fed crystal founts. 
Are welling forth alway ; 

On Mississippi's mighty tides, 
And on Ohio's silver stream, 

Or where the Susquehanna glides, 
Ar Schuylkill's ripples gleam; 

Where Delaware, with current grave, 
Is sweeping outward to the sea; 

In every land, on every wave, 
The Starry Flag floats free ! 

And through all time this flag above, 
In triumph o'er oppression's holds, 

Shall, in the light of peace and love, 
Unroll its glorious folds. 



NOTHING BUT FLAGS. 



Nothing but flags ! but simple flags ! 
Tattered and torn, and hanging in rags; 
And we walk beneath them with careless tread, 
Nor think of the hosts of the mighty dead 
Who have marched beneath them in days gone 

A\ith a burning cheek and a kindling eye, 
And have bathed their folds with their young 

life's tide, 
And dying blessed them, and blessing died. 



SELECTED READINGS 127 

OUR BANNER. 



Hail to our banner brave 
All o'er the land and wave 

To-day unfurled. 
No folds to us so fair 
Thrown on the summer air; 
None with thee compare 

In all the world. 

W. P. Tilden. 



STAINED BY THE BLOOD OF HEROES. 

Around the globe, through every clime, 
Where commerce wafts or man hath trod, 

It floats aloft, unstained with crime, 
But hallowed by heroic blood. 



THE TATTERED ENSIGN. 



We seek not strife, but when our outraged laws 
Cry for protection in so just a cause, 
Ay, tear her tattered ensign down 

Long has it waved on high, 
And many an eye has danced to see 

That banner in the sky. 
Nail to the mast her holy flag, 

Set every threadbare sail, 
And give her to the God of storms, 

The lightning and the gale ! 

Oliver Wendell Holmes. 



128 PATRIOTIC RECITATIONS 

THE FLAG OF OUR UNION. 

The union of lakes, the union of lands, 
The union of States none can sever; 

The union of hearts, the union of hands, 
And the flag of our Union forever. 

George P. Morris. 



FLAG OF THE FREE. 



When freedom from her mountain height 
Unfurled her standard to the air, 

She tore the azure robe of night 
And set the stars of glory there. 

She mingled with its gorgeous dyes 
The milky baldric of the skies, 
And striped its pure, celestial white 
With streakings of the morning light. 

Flag of the free hearts ' hope and home ! 

By angel hands to valor given ! 
Thy stars have lit the' welkin dome, 

And all thy hues were born in heaven. 

Forever float that standard sheet, 

Where breathes the foe, but falls before us, 
With freedom's soil beneath our feet, 

And freedom's banner streaming o'er us. 
Joseph Rodman Drake. 



SELECTED READINGS 129 

STAND BY THE FLAG. 

Stand by the flag ! on land and ocean billow ; 

By it your fathers stood, unmoved and true; 
Living, defended; dying, from their pillow, 

With their last blessing, passed it onto you. 
The lines that divide us are written in water, 
The love that unite us is cut deep as rock. 

Thus by friendship 's ties united. 

We will change the bloody past 
Into golden links of union, 

Blending all in love at last. 

Thus beneath the one broad banner, 
Flag of the true, the brave the free, 

We will build anew the Union, 
Fortress of our Liberty. 



FREEDOM'S STANDARD. 



God bless our star-gemmed banner; 

Shake its folds out to the breeze; 
From church, from fort, from housetop, 

Over the city, on the seas ; 

The die is cast, the storm at last 

Has broken in its might ; 
Unfurl the starry banner, 

And may God defend the right. 

Then bless our banner, God of hosts ! 



130 PATRIOTIC RECITATIONS 

Watch o'er each starry fold; 
'Tis Freedom's standard, tried and proved 
On many a field of old ; 

And Thou, who long has blessed us, 

Now bless us yet again, 
And crown our cause with victory, 

And keep our flag from stain. 



RODNEY'S HIDE. 



On the third day of July, 1776, Caesar Rod- 
ney rode on horseback from St. James' Neck, 
below Dover, Delaware, to Philadelphia, in a 
driving rain storm, for the purpose of voting 
for the Declaration of Independence. 

In that soft mid-land where the breezes bear 
The North and South on the genial air, 
Through the county of Kent, on affairs of State, 
Rode Caesar Rodney, the delegate. 

Burly and big, and bold and bluff, 
In his three-cornered hat and coat of snuff, 
A foe to King George and the English State, 
Was Caesar Rodney, the delegate. 

Into Dover village he rode apace, 
And his kinfolk knew from his anxious face, 
It was matter grave that brought him there, 
To the counties three upon the Delaware. 




SELECTED READINGS 131 

"Money and men we must have," he said, 
"Or the Congress fails and our cause is dead, 
Give us both and the King shall not work his 

will. 
We are men, since the blood of Bunker Hill. ' ' 

Comes a rider swift on a panting bay ; 
' ' Ho, Rodney, ho ! you must save the day, 
For the Congress halts at a deed so great, 
And your vote alone may decide its fate." 

Answered Rodney then : " I will ride with speed ; 
It is Liberty's stress; it is Freedom's need." 
' ' When stands it ? ' ' " To-night. " " Not a mo- 
ment to spare, 
But ride like the wind from the Delaware. ' ' 

1 ' Ho, saddle the black ! I 've but half a day, 
And the Congress sits eighty miles away — 
But I'll be in time, if God grants me grace, 
To shake my fist in King George's face." 

He is up ; he is off ! and the black horse flies 
On the northward road ere the "God-speed" 

dies, 
It is gallop and spur, as the leagues they clear, 
And the clustering mile-stones move a-rear. 

It is two of the clock ; and the fleet hoofs fling 
The Fieldboro's dust with a clang and a cling, 
It is three ; and he gallops with slack rein where 
The road winds down to the Delaware. 



132 PATRIOTIC RECITATIONS 

Four ; and he spurs into New Castle town, 
From his panting steed he gets him down— 
' ' A fresh one quick ! and not a moment 's wait ! ' ' 
And off speeds Rodney, the delegate. 

It is five ; and the beams of the western sun 
Tinge the spires of Wilmington, gold and dun; 
Six; and the dust of Chester street 
Flies back in a cloud from his courser's feet. 

It is seven; the horse-boat broad of beam, 
At the Schuylkill ferry crawls over the stream — 
And at seven fifteen by the Rittenhouse clock, 
He flings his reins to the tavern jock. 

The Congress is met; the debate's begun, 
And Liberty lags for the vote of one— 
When into the hall, not a moment late, 
Walks Cassar Rodney, the delegate. 

Not a moment late ! and that half day 's ride 
Forwards the world with a mighty stride; 
For the act was passed ; ere the midnight stroke 
'er the Quaker City its echoes woke. 

At Tyranny 's feet was the gauntlet flung ; 
1 ' We are free ! " all the bells through the colon- 
ies rung, 
And the sons of the free may recall with pride, 
The day of Delegate Rodney's ride. 



SELECTED READINGS 133 

A SPOOL OF THREAD. 



The last battle of the Civil War was at Bra- 
zos, Texas, May 13, 1865, resulting in the sur- 
render of the Texan army. Recite this in a 
conversational tone, as you would tell any story. 
Well, yes, I've lived in Texas, since the spring 

of '61; 
And I'll relate the story, though I fear, sir, 

when 'tis done, 
'Twill be little worth your hearing, it was such 

a simple thing, 
Unheralded in verses that the grander poets 

sing. 

There had come a guest unbidden, at the open- 
ing of the year 

To find a lodgment in our hearts, and the ten- 
ant's name was fear; 

For secession's drawing mandate was a call for 
men and arms, 

And each recurring eventide but brought us 
fresh alarms. 

They had notified the General that he must 

yield to fate, 
And all the muniments of war surrender to 

the State, 
But he sent from San Antonio an order to the 

sea. 
To convey on board the steamer all the fort's 

artillery. 



134 PATRIOTIC RECITATIONS 

Right royal was his purpose, but the foe divined 

his plan, 
And the wily Texans set a guard to intertcept 

the man 
Detailed to bear the message ; they placed their 

watch with care 
That neither scout nor citizen should pass it 

unaware. 

Well, this was rather awkward, sir, as doubtless 

you will say, 
But the Major who was chief of staff resolved to 

have his way, 
Despite the watchful provost guard ; so he asked 

his wife to send, 
With a box of knick-knacks, a letter to her 

friend ; 
And the missive held one sentence I remember 

to this day: 
"The thread is for your neighbor, Mr. French, 

across the way." 

He dispatched a youthful courier. Of course, as 
you will know, 

The Texans searched him thoroughly and or- 
dered him to show 

The contents of the letter. They read it o'er 
and o'er, 

But failed to find the message they had hindered 
once before. 

So it reached the English lady, and she won- 
dered at the word, 



SELECTED READINGS 135 

But gave the thread to Major French, explain- 
ing that she heard 

He wished a spool of cotton. And great was his 
surprise 

At such a trifle sent, unasked, through leagues 
of hostile spies. 

' ' There 's some hidden purpose, doubtless, in the 
curious gift, ' ' he said. 

Then he tore away the label, and inside the 
spool of thread 

Was Major Nichol's order, bidding him convey 
to sea 

All the arms and ammunition from Fort Dun- 
can's battery. 

"Down to Brazon speed your horses," thus the 
Major's letter ran, 

"Shift equipments and munitions, and embark 
them if you can." 

Yes, the transfer was effected, for the ships lay 

close at hand, 
Ere the Texans guessed their purpose they had 

vanished from the land. 
Do I know it for a fact, sir ? 'Tis no story that - 

I've read— 
I was but a boy in war time, and I carried him 

the thread. 

Sophie E. Eastman. 



136 PATRIOTIC RECITATIONS 

THE YOUNG PATRIOT, ABRAHAM LIN- 
COLN. 

One Fourth of July, when Abraham Lincoln 
was a boy, he heard an oration by old 'Squire 
Godfrey. As in the olden days, the 'Squire's 
oration was full of Washington; inspiring in 
the heart of young Lincoln an enthusiasm that 
sent him home burning with a desire to knoAV 
more of the great man who heretofore had 
seemed more of a dream than a reality. Learn- 
ing that a man some six miles up the creek 
owned a copy of Washington's life, Abraham 
did not rest that night until he had footed the 
whole distance and begged the loan of the 
book. 

"Sartin, sartin," said the owner. "The 
book is fairly well worn, but no leayes are 
missin', and a lad keen enough to read as to 
walk six miles to get a book, ought to be en- 
couraged." 

It was a much-worn copy of Weem's "Life of 
Washington," and Abe, thanking the stranger 
for his kindness, walked back under the stars, 
stopping every little while to catch a glimpse of 
the features of the "Father of his Country" as 
shown in the frontispiece. 

After reaching home, tired as he was, he could 
not close his eyes until, by the light of a pine 
knot, he had found out all that was recorded 
regarding the boyhood of the man who had so 
suddenly sprung into prominence in his mind. 
In that busy harvest season he had no time to 



SELECTED READINGS 137 

read or study during the day, but every night, 
long after the other members of the family were 
sleeping peacefully, Abe lay, stretched upon 
the floor with his book on the hearth, reading, 
reading, reading, the pine knot in the fireplace 
furnishing all the light he needed, the fire with- 
in burning with such intense heat as to kindle 
a blaze that grew and increased until it placed 
him in the highest seat of his countrymen. 

What a marvelous insight into the human 
heart did Abraham Lincoln get between the 
covers of that wonderful book. The little cabin 
grew to be a paradise as he learned from the 
printed pages the story of one great man's life. 
The barefooted boy in buckskin breeches, so 
shrunken that they reached only halfway be- 
tween the knee and ankle, actually asked him- 
self whether there might not be some place — 
great and honorable, awaiting him in the fu- 
ture. 

Before this treasured "Life of Washington" 
was returned to its owner, it met with such a 
mishap as almost to ruin it. The book, which 
was lying on a board upheld by two pegs, was 
soaked by the rain that dashed between the logs 
one night, when a storm beat with unusual force 
against the north end of the cabin. Abraham 
was heartbroken over the catastrophe, and sadly 
carried the book back to its owner, offering to 
work to pay for the damage done. The man con- 
sented, and the borrower worked for three days 
at seventy-five cents a day, and thus himself be- 
came the possessor of the old faded, stained 



138 PATRIOTIC RECITATIONS 

book— a book that had more to do with shaping 
his life, perhaps, than any one other thing. 

Abe had not expected to take the book back 
with him, but merely to pay for the damage 
done, and was surprised when the man handed 
it to him when starting. He was very grateful, 
however, and when he gave expression to his 
feelings the old man said, patting him on the 
shoulder: "You have earned it, my boy, and 
are welcome to it. It's a mighty fine thing to 
have a head for books, just as fine to have a 
heart for honesty, and if you keep agoin ' as you 
have started, maybe some day you'll git to be 
President yourself. President Abraham Lin- 
coln! That would sound fust rate, fust rate, 
now. Wouldn't it, sonny?" 

"It's not a very handsome name, to be sure," 
Abe replied, looking as though he thought such 
an event possible, away off, in the future. "No, 
it's not a very handsome name, but I guess it's 
about as handsome as its owner," he added, 
glancing at the reflection of his homely features 
in the little old-fashioned, cracked mirror hang- 
ing opposite where he sat. 

"Handsome is that handsome does," said the 
old farmer, nodding his gray head in an approv- 
ing style. ' ' Yes, indeedy ; handsome deeds make 
handsome men. We hain't a nation of royal 
idiots, with one generation of kings passin' 
away to make room for another. No, sir-ee. In 
this free country of ourn, the rich and poor 
stand equal chances, and a boy without money 
is just as likely to work up to the Presidential 



SELECTED READINGS 139 

chair as the one who inherits from his parents 
lands and stocks, and money and influence. It's 
brains that counts in this land of liberty, and 
Abraham Lincoln has just as much right to sit 
in the highest seat in the land as Washington's 
son himself, if he had had a son, which he 
hadn't." 

Who knows but the future War President of 
this great Republic received his first aspirations 
from this kindly neighbor's words? 



COLUMBIA. 



Columbia, Columbia, to glory arise : 

The queen of the world, and the child of the 
skies ; 

Thy genius commands thee; with rapture be- 
hold, 

While ages on ages thy splendors unfold. 

Thy reign is the last and the noblest of time, 

Most fruitful thy soil, most inviting thy clime; 

Let the crimes of the east ne'er encrimson thy 
name, 

Be freedom, and science, and virtue, thy fame. 

To conquest and slaughter let Europe aspire, 
Whelm nations in blood, and wrap cities in fire ; 
Thy heroes the rights of mankind shall defend, 
And triumph pursue them, and glory attend. 
A world is thy realm — for a world be thy laws — 
Enlarged as thine empire, and just as thy cause ; 



140 PATRIOTIC RECITATIONS 

On freedom's broad basis thy empire shall rise, 
Extend with the main, and dissolve with the 
skies. 

Thy fleets to all regions thy power shall display, 

The nations admire, and the ocean obey ; 

Each shore to thy glory its tribute unfold, 

And the east and the south yield their spices 
and gold. 

As the day-spring, unbounded, thy splendor 
shall flow, 

And earth's little kingdoms before thee shall 
bow, 

While the ensigns of union, in triumph un- 
furled, 

Hush the tumult of war, and give peace to the 
world. 

Thus, as down a lone valley, with cedars o'er- 
spread, 

From war's dread confusion, I pensively 
strayed, 

The gloom from the face of fair heaven re- 
tired ; 

The winds ceased to murmur; the thunder ex- 
pired ; 

Perfumes, as of Eden, flowed sweetly along, 

And a voice, as of angels, enchantingly sung, 

' ' Columbia, Columbia, to glory arise ; 

The queen of the world, and the child of the 
skies." Joel Barlow. 



SELECTED READINGS 141 

CAPTAIN MOLLY AT MONMOUTH. 

One of the famous battles of the Revolution 
was that of Monmouth, N. J., which was fought 
on the 28th of June, 1778. General Washing- 
ton was in command on the American side, and 
General Sir Henry Clinton was commander-in- 
chief of the British forces. The British troops 
met with a decisive defeat. The wife of an 
Irish gunner on the American side who went 
by the name of Molly had followed her husband 
to the battle. During the engagement he was 
shot down. With the most undaunted heroism 
Molly rushed forward and took his place at the 
gun and remained there throughout the thickest 
of the fight. 

On the bloody field of Monmouth flashed the 

guns of Greene and Wayne ; 
Fiercely roared the tide of battle, thick the 

sward was heaped with slain. 
Foremost, facing death and danger, Hessian 

horse and grenadier, 
In the vanguard, fiercely fighting, stood an Irish 

cannoneer. 

Loudly roared his iron cannon, mingling ever in 

the strife, 
And beside him, firm and daring, stood his 

faithful Irish wife ; 
Of her bold contempt of danger, Green and 

Lee's brigade could tell, 
Every one knew "Captain Molly," and the 

army loved her well. 



142 PATRIOTIC RECITATIONS 

Surged the roar of battle round theni, swiftly 

flew the iron hail; 
Forward dashed a thousand bayonets that lone 

battery to assail ; 
From the foeman's foremost columns swept a 

furious fusilade, 
Mowing down the massed battalions in the ranks 

of Greene's brigade. 

Faster and faster worked the gunner, soiled 

with powder, blood and dust; 
English bayonets shone before him, shot and 

shell around him burst; 
Still he fought with reckless daring, stood and 

manned her long and well, 
Till at last the gallant fellow dead beside his 

cannon fell. 

With a bitter cry of sorrow, and a dark and 
angry frown, 

Looked that band of gallant patriots at their 
gunner stricken down. 

"Fall back, comrades! It is folly to strive 
against the foe." 

' ' Not so ! cried Irish Molly, ' ' we can strike an- 
other blow!" 

Quickly leaped she to the cannon in her fallen 

husband's place, 
Sponged and rammed it fast and steady, fired it 

in the foeman's face. 
Flashed another ringing volley, roared another 

from the gun; 



SELECTED READINGS 143 

"Boys, hurrah!" cried gallant Molly, "for the 
nag of Washington!" 

Green's brigade, though shorn and shattered, 
slain and bleeding half their men, 

When they heard that Irish slogan, turned €tnd 
charged the foe again ; 

Knox and Wayne and Morgan rally, to the front 
they forward wheel, 

And before their rushing onset Clinton's Eng- 
lish columns reel. 

Still the cannon's voice in anger rolled and rat- 
tled o'er the plain, 

Till they lay in swarms around it mingled heaps 
of Hessian slain. 

"Forward! charge them with the bayonet!" 
'twas the voice of Washington; 

And there burst a fiery greeting from the Irish- 
woman 's gun, 

Monckton falls; against his columns leap the 
troops of Wayne and Lee, 

And before their reeking bayonets Clinton's red- 
battalions flee ; 

Morgan's rifles, fiercely flashing, thin the foe's 
retreating ranks, 

And behind them, onward dashing, Ogden hov- 
ers on their flanks. 

Fast they fly, those boasting Britons, who in all 
their glory came, 



144 PATRIOTIC RECITATIONS 

With their brutal Hessian hirelings to wipe out 

our country's name. 
Proudly floats the starry banner; Monmouth '3 

glorious field is won; 
And, in triumph, Irish Molly stands besides her 

smoking gun. William Collins. 



DOUGLAS TO THE POPULACE OF 
STIRLING. 

Hear, gentle friends ! ere yet, for me, 

Ye breaks the bands of fealty. 

My life, my honor, and my cause, 

I tender free to Scotland's laws. 

Are these so weak as must require 

The aid of your misguided ire? 

Or, if I suffer causeless wrong, 

Is then my selfish rage so strong, 

My sense of public weal so low, 

That, for mean vengeance on a foe, 

Those cords of love I should unbind 

Which knit my country and my kind? 

Oh no! believe, in yonder tower 

It will not soothe my captive hour, 

To know those spears our foes should dread 

For me in kindred gore are red; 

To know, in fruitless brawl begun, 

For me, that mother wails her son; 

For me that widow's mate expires, 

For me, that orphans weep their sires, 

That patriots mourn insulted laws, 



SELECTED READINGS 145 

And curse the Douglas for the cause. 
let your patience ward such ill, 
And keep your right to love me still. 

Sir Walter Scott. 



OUR COUNTRY. 



Our country !— 'tis a glorious land! 

With broad arms stretched from shore to 
shore, 
The proud Pacific chafes her strand, 

She hears the dark Atlantic roar; 
And, nurtured on her ample breast, 

Hoav many a goodly prospect lies 
In Nature's wildest grandeur drest, . 

Enamelled with her loveliest dyes. 

Rich prairies, decked with flowers of gold, 

Like sunlit oceans roll afar; 
Broad lakes her azure heavens behold, 

Reflecting clear each trembling star, 
And mighty rivers, mountain-born, 

Go sweeping onward dark and deep, 
Through forests where the bounding fawn 

Beneath their sheltering branches leap. 

And, cradled mid her clustering hills, 
Sweet vales in dreamlike beauty hide, 

Where love the air with music fills; 
And calm content and peace abide; 

For plenty here her fullness pours 



146 PATRIOTIC RECITATIONS 

In rich profusion o'er the land, 
And sent to seize her generous stores, 

There prowls no tyrant's hireling band. 

Great God ! we thank Thee for this home— 

This bounteous birthland of the free; 
"Where wanderers from afar may come, 

And breathe the air of liberty!— 
Still may her flowers untrampled spring, 

Her harvests wave, her cities rise; 
And yet, till Time shall fold his wing, 

Remain Earth's loveliest paradise! 

W. G. Peabodie. 



M'lLRATH OF MALATE. 

Acting Sergeant J. A. Mcllrath, Battery H, 
Third Artillery, Regulars; enlisted from New 
York; fifteen years' service. The heroism of our 
brave Regulars in the W T ar with Spain was the 
theme of universal admiration. 
Yes, yes, my boy, there's no mistake, 

You put the contract through! 
You lads with Shafter, I'll allow, 

Were heroes, tried and true; 

But don't forget the men who fought 

About Manila Bay, 
And don't forget brave Mcllrath 

Who died at Malate. 

The night was black, save where the forks 



SELECTED READINGS 



147 



Of tropic lightning ran, 
When, with a long deep thunder-roar, 
The typhoon storm began. 

Then, suddenly above the din, 

We heard the steady bay 
Of volleys from the trenches where 

The Pennsylvanias lay. 

The Tenth, we thought, could hold their own 

Against the feigned attack, 
And, if the Spaniards dared advance, 

Would pay them doubly back. 

But soon we marked the volleys sink 

Into a scattered fire— 
And, now we heard the Spanish gun 

Boom nigher yet and nigher! 

Then, like a ghost, a courier 
Seemed past our picket tossed 

With wild hair streaming in his face— 
"We're lost— we're lost— we're lost." 



"Front, front— in God's name— front !" he 
cried : 

"Our ammunition's gone!" 
He turned a face of dazed dismay — 

And through the night sped on ! 

"Men, follow me!" cried Mcllrath, 
Our acting Sergeant then; 



148 PATRIOTIC RECITATIONS 

And when he gave the word he knew 
He gave the word to men ! 

Twenty there — not one man more — 

But down the sunken road 
We dragged the guns of Battery H, 

Nor even stopped to load! 

Sudden, from the darkness poured 

A storm of Mauser hail— 
But not a man there thought to pause, 

Nor any man to quail! 

Ahead, the Pennsylvanias ' guns 

In scattered firing broke; 
The Spanish trenches, red with flame, 

In fiercer volleys spoke! 

Down with a rush our twenty came — 

The open field we passed — 
And in among the hard-pressed Tenth 

We set our feet at last! 

Up, with a leap, sprang Mcllrath, 

Mud-spattered, worn and wet, 
And, in an instant, there he stood 

High on the parapet! 

"Steady, boys! we've got 'em now- 
Only a minute late ! 

It's all right, lads— we've got 'em whipped, 
Just give 'em volleys straight ! ' ' 



SELECTED READINGS 149 

Then, up and down the parapet 

With head erect he went, 
As cool as when he sat with us 

Beside our evening tent ! 

Not one of us, close sheltered there 

Down in the trench's pen, 
But felt that he would rather die 

Than shame or grieve him then ! 

The fire so close to being quenched 

In panic and defeat, 
Leaped forth, by rapid volleys sped, 

In one long deadly sheet! 

A cheer went up along the line 

As breaks the thunder-call— 
But, as it rose, great God ! we saw 

Our gallant Sergeant fall ! 

He sank into our outstretched arms 

Dead— but immortal grown; 
And Glory brightened where he fell, 

And valor claimed her own ! 

John Jerome Rooney. . 



AFTER THE BATTLE. 



Brave captain! canst thou speak? 

What is it thou dost see? 
A wondrous glory lingers on thy face, 



150 PATRIOTIC RECITATIONS 

The night is past; I've watched the night 
with thee. 

Knowest thou the place ? ' ' 

11 The place? 'Tis San Juan, comrade. 

Is the battle over? 
The victory— the victory— is it won? 

My wound is mortal; I know I cannot re- 
cover— 

The battle for me is done ! 

1 i I never thought it would come to this ! 

Does it rain ? 
The musketry! Give me a drink; ah, that is 
glorious ! 
Now if it were not for this pain — this pain — 
Didst thou say victorious? 

' ' It would not be strange, would it, if I do wan- 
der? 
A man can't remember with a bullet in his 
brain. 
I wish when at home I had been a little fonder — 
Shall I ever be well again ? 

"It can make no difference whether I go from 
here or there. 
Thou 'It write to father and tell him when I 
am dead?— 
The eye that sees the sparrow fall numbers 
every hair 

Even of this poor head. 



SELECTED READINGS 151 

''Tarry awhile, comrade, the battle can wait for 
thee; 
I will try to keep thee but a few brief mo- 
ments longer; 
Thou 'It say good-bye to the friends at home for 
me?— 

If only I were a little stronger! 

' * I must not think of it. Thou are sorry for me ? 
The glory— is it the glory?— makes me blind; 
Strange, for the light, comrade, the light I can- 
not see— 

Thou hast been very kind ! 

" I do not think I have done so very much evil— 

I did not mean it. 'I lay me down to sleep, 

I pray the Lord my soul'— Just a little rude and 

uncivil — 

Comrade, why dost thou weep? 

' ' Oh ! if human pity is so gentle and tender— 
Good-night, good friends! 'I lay me down 
to sleep!'— 
Who from a Heavenly Father's love needs a 
defender ? 

'My soul to keep!' 

" 'If I should die before I wake'— comrade, tell 
mother, 
Remember— 'I pray the Lord my, soul to 
take!' 
My musket thouTt carry back to my little 
brother, 

For my dear sake! 



152 PATRIOTIC RECITATIONS 

" Attention, company! Reverse arms! Very 
well, men; my thanks. 
Where am I? Do I wander, comrade,— wan- 
der again?— 
Parade is over. Company E, break ranks ! break 
ranks ! 

I know it is the pain. 

"Give me thy strong hand; fain would I cling, 
comrade to thee; 
I feel a chill air blown from a far-off shore; 
My sight revives ; Death stands and looks at me. 
What waits he for? 

"Keep back my ebbing pulse till I be bolder 
grown ; 
I would know something of the Silent Land ; 
It's hard to struggle to the front alone — 
Comrade, thy hand. 

"The reveille calls! be strong, my soul, and 
peaceful ; 
The Eternal City bursts upon my sight ! 
The ringing air with ravishing melody is full— 
I 've won the fight ! 

"Nay, comrade, let me go; hold not my hand 
so steadfast; 
I am commissioned— under marching orders— 
I know the Future— let the Past be past- 
il cross the borders." 



SELECTED READINGS 153 

THE GREAT NAVAL BATTLE OP 
MANILA 

With the United States flag flying at all their 
mastheads, our ships moved to the attack in line 
ahead, with a speed of eight knots, first passing 
in front of Manila, where the action was begun 
by three batteries mounting guns powerful 
enough to send a shell over us at a distance of 
five miles. The Concord's guns boomed out a 
reply to these batteries with two shots. No 
more were fired, because Admiral Dewey could 
not engage with these batteries without sending 
death and destruction into the crowded city. 

As we neared Cavite two very powerful sub- 
marine mines were exploded ahead of the flag- 
ship. The Spaniards had misjudged our posi- 
tion. Immense volumes of water were thrown 
high in air by these destroyers, but no harm was 
done to our ships. 

Admiral Dewey had fought with Farragut at 
New Orleans and Mobile Bay, where he had his 
first experience with torpedoes. Not knowing 
how many more mines there might be ahead, he 
still kept on without faltering. No other mines 
exploded, however, and it is believed that the 
Spaniards had only these two in place. 

Only a few minutes later the shore battery at 
Cavite Point sent over the flagship a shot that 
nearly hit the battery in Manila, but soon the 
guns got a better range, and the shells began 
to strike near us, or burst close aboard from 
both the batteries and the Spanish vessels. The 



154 PATRIOTIC RECITATIONS 

heat was intense. Men stripped off all clothing 
except their trousers. 

As the Admiral's flagship, the Olympia, drew 
nearer all was as silent on board as if the ship 
had been empty, except for the whirr of blowers 
and the throb of tjie engines. Suddenly a shell 
burst directly over us. From the boatswain's 
mate at the after 5-inch gun came a hoarse cry. 
"Remember the Maine!" arose from the throats 
of five hundred men at the guns. This watch- 
word was caught up in turrets and fire-rooms, 
wherever seaman or fireman stood at his post. 

"Remember the Maine!" had rung out for 
defiance and revenge. Its utterance seemed un- 
premeditated, but was evidently in every man's 
mind, and, now that the moment had come to 
make adequate reply to the murder of the 
Maine's crew, every man shouted what was in 
his heart. 

The Olympia was now ready to begin the 
fight. "You may fire when ready, Captain 
Gridley," said the Admiral, and at nineteen 
minutes of six o'clock, at a distance of 5,500 
yards, the starboard 8-inch gun in the forward 
turret roared forth a compliment to the Spanish 
forts. Presently similar guns from the Balti- 
more and the Boston sent 250-pound shells 
hurtling toward the Spanish ships Castilla and 
the Reina Christina for accuracy. The Span- 
iards seemed encouraged to fire faster, knowing 
exactly our distance, while we had to guess 
theirs. Their ship and shore guns were mak- 
ings things hot for us. 



SELECTED READINGS 155 

The piercing scream of shot was varied often 
by the bursting of time fuse shells, fragments of 
which would lash the water like shrapnel or 
cut our hull and rigging. One large shell that 
was coming straight at the Olympia's forward 
bridge fortunately fell within less than one hun- 
dred feet away. One fragment cut the rigging 
exactly over the heads of some of the officers. 
Another struck the bridge gratings in line with 
it. A third passed just under Dewey and 
gouged a hole in the deck. Incidents like these 
were plentiful. 

"Capture and destroy Spanish squadron, " 
were Dewey's orders. Never were instructions 
more effectually carried out. Within seven 
hours after arriving on the scene of action noth- 
ing remained to be done. The Admiral closed 
the day by anchoring off the city of Manila and 
sending word to the Governor General that if a 
shot was fired from the city at the fleet he would 
lay Manila in ashes. 

What was Dewey's achievement? He steamed 
into Manila Bay at the dead hour of the night, 
through the narrower of the two channels, and 
as soon as there was daylight enough to grope 
his way about he put his ships in line of battle 
and brought on an engagement, the greatest in 
many respects in ancient or modern warfare. 
The results are known the world over— every 
ship in the Spanish fleet destroyed, the harbor 
Dewey's own, his own ships safe from the shore 
batteries, owing to the strategic position he oc- 



156 PATRIOTIC RECITATIONS 

cupied, and Manila his whenever he cared to 
take it. 

Henceforth, so long as ships sail and flags 
wave, high on the scroll that bears the names of 
the world 's greatest naval heroes will be written 
that of George Dewey, 






THE SINKING OF THE SHIPS 



Dark, dark is the night; not a star in the sky, 
And the Maine rides serenely; what danger is 

nigh? 
Our nation's at peace with the Kingdom of 

Spain, 
So calmly they rest in the battleship Maine. 
But, hark to that roar ! See, the water is red ! 
And the sailor sleeps now with the slime for his 

bed. 

Havana then shook, like the leaves of the trees, 

When the tornado rides on the breast of the 
breeze ; 

Then people sprang up from their beds in the 
gloom, 

As they'll spring from their graves at the thun- 
der of doom; 

And they rushed through the streets, in their 
terror and fear, 

Crying out as they ran, "Have the rebels come 
here?" 



SELECTED READINGS 157 

"Oh, see how the flame lights the shores of the 

bay, 
Like the red rising sun at the coming of day ; 
'Tis a ship in a blaze! 'Tis the battleship 

Maine ! 
What means this to lis and the Kingdom of 

Spain? 
The eagle will come at that loud sounding roar, 
And our flag will fly free over Cuba no more. ' ' 

Dark, dark is the night on the face of the deep, 
In the forts all is still ; are the soldiers asleep ? 
Oh, see how that ship glides along through the 

night; 
'Tis the ghost of the Maine— she has come to the 

fight; 
A flash, and a roar, and a cry of despair; 
The eagle has come, for brave Dewey is there. 

Oh, Spaniards, come out, for the daylight has 

fled, 
And look on those ships— look with terror and 

dread ; 
The eagle has come, and he swoops to his prey; 
Oh, fly, Spaniards, fly, to that creek in the bay ! ~ 
The eagle has come— "Remember the Maine!" 
And the water is red with the blood of the slain. 

They rest for a time— now they sail in again ! 
Oh, woe, doom and woe, to the kingdom of 

Spain. 
Their ships are ablaze, they are battered and 

rent, 



158 PATRIOTIC RECITATIONS 

By the death-dealing shells which our sailors 

have sent. 
Not a man have we lost ; yet the battle is o 'er, 
And their ships ride the bay of Manila no more. 

Dark, silent and dark, on the face of the deep, 

A ship glides in there; are the Spaniards 
asleep ? 

The channel is mined ! Oh, rash sailors beware ! 

Or that death dealing fiend will spring up from 
his lair; 

He will tear you, and rend you, with wild fiend- 
ish roar, 

And cast you afar on the bay and the shore ! 

They laugh at the danger; what care they for 

death ? 
'Tis only a shock and the ceasing of breath; 
Their souls to their Maker, their forms to the 

wave, 
What nation has sons like the home of the 

brave ? 
That ship they would steer to the pit of despair, 
If duty cried ' ' Onward ! ' ' and glory were there. 

The shore is ablaze, but the channel they gain ; 
A word of command, and the rattle of chain; 
A flash— and the Merrimac's sunk in the bay, 
And the Spaniard must leave in the light of the 

day. 
Santiago and Hobson remembered shall be, 
While waves the proud flag of the brave and the 

free. 



SELECTED READINGS 159 

The Spaniards sail out— what a glorious sight! 
Now, sailors, stand by and prepare for the 

fight; 
0, Glo'ster, in there, pelt the Dons as they fly, 
Make us glorious news for the Fourth of July ! 
And Wainwright remembered the Maine with a 

roar, 
And that shell-battered hulk is a terror no more. 

Then Schley and the Brooklyn were right in 

the way, 
But Sampson had gone to see Shaf ter, they say ; 
And the Oregon flew like a fury from hell, 
Spreading wreckage and death with the might 

of her shell; 
Then Evans stood out, like a chivalrous knight, 
Giving mercy to all at the end of the fight. 

The Colon still flies, but a shell cleaves the air, 
Its number is fatal— a cry of despair— 
She turns to the shore, she bursts into flame, 
And down comes the flag of the kingdom of 

Spain ; 
Men float all around, the battle is done,, 
And their ships are all sunk for the sinking of 

one. 

Not ours is the hand that would strike in the 

night, 
With the fiendish intention to mangle and slay, 
We strike at obstruction to freedom and right, 
And strike when we strike in the light of the 

day. 

W. B. COLLISON. 



160 PATRIOTIC RECITATIONS 

PERRY'S CELEBRATED VICTORY ON 
LAKE ERIE 

Perry's famous battle on Lake Erie raised the 
spirits of the Americans. The British had six 
ships, with sixty-three guns. The Americans 
had nine ships, with fifty-four guns, and the 
American ships were much smaller than the 
English. At this time Perry, the American 
commander, was but twenty-six years of age. 
His flagship was the Lawrence. The ship's 
watchword was the last charge of the Chesa- 
peake's dying Commander — "Don't give up the 
ship." The battle was witnessed by thousands 
of people on shore. 

At first the advantage seemed to be with the 
English. Perry's flagship was riddled by Eng- 
lish shots, her guns were dismounted and the 
battle seemed lost. At the supreme crisis Perry 
embarked in a small boat with some of his 
officers, and under the fire of many cannon 
passed to the Niagara, another ship of the fleet, 
of which he took command. 

After he had left the Lawrence she hauled 
down her flag and surrendered, but the other 
American ships carried on the battle with such 
fierce impetuosity that the English battle-ship 
in turn surrendered, the Lawrence was retaken 
and all the English ships yielded with the ex- 
ception of one, which took flight. The Ameri- 
cans pursued her, took her and came back with 
the entire British squadron. In the Capitol at 



SELECTED READINGS 161 

Washington is a historical picture showing this 
famous victory. 

In Perry's great battle on Lake Erie was 
shown the true stuff of which American sailors 
are made. Perry was young, bold and dashing, 
but withal, he had the coolness and intrepidity 
of the veteran. History records few braver acts 
than his passage in an open boat from one ship 
to another under the galling fire of the enemy. 

The grand achievements of the American 
navy are brilliant chapters in our country's his- 
tory. When the time comes for daring deeds, 
our gallant tars are equal to the occasion. Cool- 
ness in battle, splendid discipline, perfect 
marksmanship and a patriotism that glories in 
the victory of the Stars and Stripes, combine to 
place the officers and men of our navy in the 
front rank of the world's greatest heroes. 



THE CAPTURE OF QUEBEC 

General Wolfe, the English commander, saw 
that he must take Quebec by his own efforts or~ 
not at all. He attempted several diversions 
above the city in the hope of drawing Montcalm, 
the French commander, from his intrenchments 
into the open field, but Montcalm merely sent 
De Bougainville with fifteen hundred men to 
watch the shore above Quebec and prevent a 
landing. Wolfe fell into a fever, caused by his 
anxiety, and his dispatches to his government 



162 PATRIOTIC RECITATIONS 

created the gravest uneasiness in England for 
the success of his enterprise. 

Though ill, Wolfe examined the river with 
eagle eyes to detect some place at which a land- 
ing could be attempted. His energy, was re- 
warded by his discovery of the cove which now 
bears his name. From the shore at the head of 
this cove a steep and difficult pathway, along 
which two men could scarcely march abreast, 
wound up to the summit of the heights and was 
guarded by a small force of Canadians. 

Wolfe at once resolved to effect a landing 
here and ascend the heights by this path. The 
greatest secrecy was necessary to the success of 
the undertaking, and in order to deceive the 
French as to his real design, Captain Cook, 
afterwards famous as a great navigator, was 
sent to take soundings and place buoys opposite 
Montcalm's camp, as if that were to be the real 
point of attack. The morning of the thirteenth 
of September was chosen for the movement, and 
the day and night of the twelfth were spent in 
preparations for it. 

At one o'clock on the morning of the thir- 
teenth a force of about five thousand men under 
Wolfe, with Monckton and Murray, set off in 
boats from the fleet, which had ascended the 
river several days before, and dropped down to 
the point designated for the landing. Each 
officer was thoroughly informed of the duties 
required of him, and each shared the resolution 
of the gallant young commander, to conquer or 
to die. As the boats floated down the stream, 



SELECTED READINGS 163 

in the clear, cool starlight, Wolfe spoke to his 
officers of the poet Gray, and of his ' ' Elegy in a 
Country Churchyard." "I would prefer," said 
he, "being the author of that poem to the glory 
of beating the French to-morrow." Then in a 
musing voice he repeated the lines : 

"The boast of heraldry, the pomp of power, 
And all that beauty, all that wealth e'er gave, 

Await alike the inexorable hour ; 

The paths of glory lead but to the grave. ' ' 

In a short while the landing-place was 
reached, and the fleet, following silently, took 
position to cover the landing if necessary. 
Wolfe and his immediate command leaped 
ashore and secured the pathway. The light 
infantry, who were carried by the tide a little 
below the path, climbed up the side of the 
heights, sustaining themselves by clinging to the 
roots and shrubs which lined the precipitous 
face of the hill. They reached the summit and 
drove off the picket-guard after a light skirmish. 
The rest of the troops ascended in safety by 
the pathway. Having gained the heights, Wolfe 
moved forward rapidly to clear the forest, and 
by daybreak his army was drawn up on the 
Heights of Abraham, in the rear of the city. 

Montcalm was speedily informed of the pres- 
ence of the English. "It can be but a small 
party come to burn a few houses and retire," 
he answered incredulously. A brief examination 
satisfied him of his danger, and he exclaimed 



164 PATRIOTIC RECITATIONS 

in amazement: "Then they have at last got to 
the weak side of this miserable garrison. We 
must give battle and crush them before mid- 
day." 

He at once dispatched a messenger for De 
Bougainville, who was fifteen miles up the river, 
and marched from his camp opposite the city to 
the Heights of Abraham to drive the English 
from them. The opposing forces were about 
equal in numbers, though the English troops 
were superior to their adversaries in discipline, 
steadiness and determination. 

The battle began about ten o'clock and was 
stubbornly contested. It was at length decided 
in favor of the English. Wolfe though wounded 
several times, continued to direct his army 
until, as he was leading them to a final charge, 
he received a musket ball in the breast. He 
tottered and called to an officer near him: 
"Support me; let not my brave fellows see me 
drop. ' ' He was borne tenderly to the rear, and 
water was brought him to quench his thirst. 

At this moment the officer upon whom he was 
leaning cried out: "They run! they run!" 
"Who run?" asked the dying hero, eagerly. 
"The French," said the officer, "give way 
everywhere." "What," said Wolfe, summon- 
ing up his remaining strength, "do they run 
already? Go, one of you, to Colonel Burton; 
bid him march Webb's regiment with all speed 
to Charles River to cut off the fugitives. ' ' Then 
a smile of contentment overspreading his pale 
features, he murmured : ' ' Now, God be praised, 



SELECTED READINGS 165 

I die happy," and expired. He had done his 
whole duty, and with his life had purchased 
an empire for his country. 

James D. McCabe. 



LITTLE JEAN 

At the battle of the Pyramids, July 21st, 

A. d. 1798. 

Burning sands, and isles of palm, and the 

Mamelukes' fierce array, 
Under the solemn Pyramids, Napoleon saw that 

day; 
"Comrades," he cried, "from those old heights, 

Fame watches the deeds you do, 
The eyes of forty centuries are fixed this day on 
you!" 

They answered him with ringing shouts, they 

were eager for the fray, 
Napoleon held their central square, in front was 

bold Desaix ; 
They gave one glance to the Pyramids, one. 

glance to the rich Cairo, 
And then they poured a rain of fire upon their 

charging foe. 

Only a little drummer boy, from the column of 

Dufarge, 
Tottered to where the " Forty- third " stood 

waiting for their "charge," 



166 PATRIOTIC RECITATIONS 

Bleeding— but beating still his call— he said, 

with tear-dimmed eye : 
"I'm but a baby, Forty-third, so teach me how 

to die!" 

Then Regnier gnawed his long gray beard, and 

Joubert turned away, 
The lad had been the pet of all, they knew not 

what to say; 
"I will not shame you, 'Forty-third,' though I 

am but a child ! ' ' 
Then Regnier stooped and kissed his face, and 

shouted loud and wild: 

1 ' Forward ! Why are we waiting here ? Shall 
Mamelukes stop our way? 

Come, little Jean, and beat the 'charge,' and 
ours shall be the day; 

And we will show thee how to die, good boy! 
good boy ! Be brave ! 

It is not every 'nine years' old' can fill a sol- 
dier's grave!" 

It was as though a spirit spoke, the men to bat- 
tle flew ; 

Yet each in passing, cried aloud: "My little 
Jean, Adieu!" 

"Adieu, brave Forty-third, Adieu!" Then 
proudly beat his drum— 

"You've showed me how a soldier dies— and lit- 
tle Jean will come ! ' ' 

They found him 'mid the slain next day, amid 
the brave who fell, 



SELECTED READINGS 167 

Said Regnier, proudly, "My brave Jean, thou 
learned thy lesson well ! ' ' 

They hung the medal round his neck, and 
crossed his childish hands, 

And dug for him a little grave in Egypt's lone- 
ly sands. 

But, still, the corps his memory keep, and name 
with flashing eye, 

The hero whom the " Forty- third, " in Egypt, 
taught to die. 

Lillie E. Barr. 



THE DEFEAT OF GENERAL BRADDOCK 

Washington, who, at this time, was a subordi- 
nate officer, was well convinced that the French 
and Indians were informed of the movements of 
the army and would seek to interfere with it 
before its arrival at Fort Duquesne, which was 
only ten miles distant, and urged Braddock to 
throw in advance the Virginia Rangers, three 
hundred strong, as they were experienced 
Indian fighters. 

Braddock angrily rebuked his aide, and as if 
to make the rebuke more pointed, ordered the 
Virginia troops and other provincials to take 
position in the rear of the regulars. 

In the meantime the French at Fort Du- 
quesne had been informed by their scouts of 
Braddock 's movements, and had resolved to 
ambuscade him on his march. Early on the 



168 PATRIOTIC RECITATIONS 

morning of the ninth a force of about two hun- 
dred and thirty French and Canadians and six 
hundred and thirty-seven Indians, under De 
Beaujeu, the commandant at Fort Duquesne, 
was dispatched with orders to occupy a desig- 
nated spot and attack the enemy upon their ap- 
proach. Before reaching it, about two o'clock 
in the afternoon, they encountered the advanced 
force of the English army, under Lieutenant- 
Colonel Thomas Gage, and at once attacked 
them with spirit. 

The English army at this moment was moving 
along a narrow road, about twelve feet in width, 
with scarcely a scout thrown out in advance or 
upon the flanks. The engineer who was locat- 
ing the road was the first to discover the enemy, 
and called out : ' ' French and Indians ! ' ' In- 
stantly a heavy fire was opened upon Gage's 
force, and his indecision allowed the French and 
Indians to seize a commanding ridge, from 
which they maintained their attack with spirit. 

The regulars were quickly thrown into con- 
fusion by the heavy fire and the fierce yells of 
the Indians, who could nowhere be seen, and 
their losses were so severe and sudden that they 
became panic-stricken. 

The only semblance of resistance maintained 
by the English was by the Virginia Rangers, 
whom Braddock had insulted at the beginning 
of the day's march. Immediately upon the 
commencement of the battle, they had adopted 
the tactics of the Indians, and had thrown them- 
selves behind trees, from which shelter they 



SELECTED READINGS 169 

were rapidly picking off the Indians. Wash- 
ington entreated Braddock to follow the 
example of the Virginians, but he refused, and 
stubbornly endeavored to form them in platoons 
under the fatal fire that was being poured upon 
them by their hidden assailants. Thus through 
his obstinacy many useful lives were lost. 

The officers did not share the panic of the 
men, but behaved with the greatest gallantry. 
They were the especial marks of the Indian 
sharpshooters, and many of them were killed or 
wounded. Two of Braddock 's aides were seri- 
ously wounded, and their duties devolved upon 
Washington in addition to his own. He passed 
repeatedly over the field, carrying the orders of 
the commander and encouraging the men. When 
sent to bring up the artillery, he found it sur- 
rounded by Indians, its commander, Sir Peter 
Halket, killed, and the men standing helpless 
from fear. 

Springing from his horse, he appealed to the 
men to save the guns, pointed a field-piece and 
discharged it at the savages and entreated the 
gunners to rally. He could accomplish nothing 
by either his words or example. The men de % 
serted the guns and fled. In a letter to his 
brother, Washington wrote: "I had four bul- 
lets through my coat, two horses shot under me, 
yet escaped unhurt, though death was leveling 
my companions on every side around me. ' ' 

James D. McCabe. 



170 PATRIOTIC RECITATIONS 



INDEPENDENCE DAY, 1776. 



Ring out, glad bells, your merry chime, 
Proclaim to every land and clime 
On this bright, gladsome July morn— 
A people free, a nation born. 
Chime through the city, ville and town, 
Regardless of the tyrant's frown, 
Ring out o'er woods and mountains wild, 
The birth of freedom's beauteous child. 
Send tidings o'er the foam- white tide— 
Over the restless waters wide— 
Where crested billows surge and swell 
Thy holy echoes blithesome bell ; 
LiKe timbrel sound across the sea, 
Her psalm of independence. 

Peal, cannons, peal ! The glad news forth, 
Proclaim it to the frigid North ; 
Belch forth your every iron mouth 
The summons to the sunny South. 
Oh ! flash the glorious news abroad 
From warm Key West to cold Cape Cod ; 
Let the report of freedom's gun 
Be heard at glorious Lexington, 
And from the Atlantic's billowy breast 
Send the glad tidings to the West, 
Across the prairie and the brake 
From Boston Bay to Erie's lake, 
And let Niagara's thunder song 
The glory of the theme prolong; 
Columbia 's Independence. 



SELECTED READINGS 171 

Let brilliant watchfires gleam to-night 
Upon the mountain's dizzy height, 
On every hill, at every post, 
On every headland round the coast ; 
On all the crossways through the land, 
On every beach, on every strand, 
Showing their signals, white and red, 
From Mason's Bay to Hilton's Head, 
And flash from every rocky steep, 
Along the Atlantic 's seething deep ; 
And from each ruddy flame shall glow 
Freedom's defiance to the foe, 
And light the midnight's darkling haze 
Till Pilgrim's Rock reflects the blaze 
Of sacred Independence. 
Speed, bounding bark with flowing sail, 
Publish the tidings on the gale, 
And let it spread from sea to sea, 
America to lead the free ! 
Conceived in fire, in the wild flame 
Of contest waged in freedom's name. 
Born in the battle's mad'ning strife, 
And proudly ushered into life 
Amid the craze of war's alarms, 

And cradled in a warrior's arms, 
In revolution 's fiery flood ; 
Baptized in freedom's sea of blood. 
Her front a helmet— in her hand- 
Baptismal gift— a battle brand, 
The first shrill sounds that met her ears 
Were freemen's guns and freemen's cheers 
For welcome Independence. 



172 PATRIOTIC RECITATIONS 

Hark! the glad sound of music sweet, 
From happy crowds that throng the street, 
With wild delight and mirthful glee 
They chant the anthem of the free, 
With bugle, horn, with drum and fife, 
Hailing a nation born to life, 
This holiday of freedom's world, 
Bright with her banners now unfurled, 
Let it resound o'er cape and bay 
Greeting the Nation's natal day, 
Reverberate each song and cheer, 
Till the old town of Concord hear 
The glorious strains, till streams and rill 
Send echoes back to Bunker Hill 
Of lasting Independence. 



THE END. 



CATALOGUE OF 

FREDERICK J. DRAKE 
& COMPANY 

PUBLISHERS. 
352-356 Dearborn St. CHICAQO. 



u 



PON receipt of the price, any book 
advertised in the following pages 
will be sent by mail, postage paid, to 
any Post Office in the United States, 
Canada, or the Universal Postal Union. 

As to our financial standing-, we respectfully 
refer you to any bank or business house in Chicago. 

Not Respopnsible for Money or Books sent by 
Mail, unless Registered. 

Parcels will be registered on receipt of Ten Cents 
in addition to the amount of the order. 

No orders whatever will be filled unless suf- 
ficient money accompanies them. 

Write your name plainly. 

Give full Address, with Post Office, County and 
State. 

A complete Descriptive Catalogue will be mailed 
free on application. Send for it. 

We will be pleased to consider for publication 
any manuscripts sent us. 

We desire one or more good agents to represent 
our books in every county in the United States. 
Write us for terms, etc. 

HOW TO SEND MONEY. 

In remitting by mail, the safest means are a 
Post Office or Express Money Order, or a Draft 
on New York or Chicago, payable to Frederick J. 
Drake & Company. When these are not procurable, 
Cash may be sent in a Registered Letter. Unused 
United States postage stamps of the denomination 
of ten cents or under will be received as cash in 
amounts less than one dollar. Soiled stamps, or 
stamps other than those of the United States, and 
personal checks or drafts on local banks cannot be 
accepted. 



2 CATALOGUE OP F. J. DRAKE & CO. 

Frederick J. Drake & Company's 

CATALOGUE OF 

Standard Up=to=Date Hand Books 
on the following Subjects: 

Dialogues, Recitations, Tableaux, 

Charades, Pantomimes, Mock Trials, 

Monologues, Drills, Marches, Minstrel 
and Entertainment Books, Magic, 
Palmistry, Hypnotism, Black Art, 
Electricity, Speakers, Poultry, 
Letter Writers, Dream Books, 

Fortune Tellers, Popular Dramas, 
Photography, Etiquette, Dancing-, 
Etc., Etc., Etc., Etc. 



Each book in this list is the work of a com- 
petent specialist, and will be found reliable, 
practical and thoroughly up-to-date. 

Any Book Advertised in This Catalogue Sent, 

Postpaid, on Receipt of Price. 

FREDERICK J. DRAKE & CO., 

352-356 Dearborn St., Chicago. 

SEND FOR COMPLETE CATALOGUE. 



CATALOGUE OF F. J. DRAKE & CO. 3 

DUTCH DIALECT. 

Recitations, Readings and Jokes, as told by our fore- 
most vaudeville stars, Weber and Fields, Rogers Broth- 
ers, Marshall P. Wilder, Ezra Kendall, Geo. Fuller 
Golden, Gus Williams, and others. Every lover of Ger- 
man dialect wit and humor ought to procure a copy 
of this new and up-to-date book, as it contains the 
choicest emanations" of the most celebrated and re- 
nowned Dutch comedians and humorists of the present 
day. Rip-roaring, side-splitting Dutch dialect. Hot 
humor covers its many pages, and comedians and ama- 
teurs who wish to keep an audience or social gathering 
in a continuous stream of laughter and merriment, and 
receive tumultous applause at every appearance, will 
find in this book exactly what they require. 

Paper Covers 25 CENTS. 

(Cloth, Gold Titles 50 CENTS. 

CHOICE DIALECT AND VAUDEVILLE STAGE 
JOKES. 

A New Standard collection of Readings, Recitations, 
Jokes, Gags, and Monologues in Irish, Dutch, Scotch, 
Yankee, French, Italian, Spanish, Chinese, Negro, and 
other dialects, representing every phase of sentiment 
from the keenest humor or the tenderest pathos to that 
which is strongly dramatic. We heartily recommend 
this book to amateurs and professionals as being the 
Best, Latest and containing the brightest dialect stories 
of the Vaudeville stage. It is full of ginger and un- 
like anything before published. There is another laugh 
in you, it will have to come out if read. 

Paper Covers 25 CENTS. 

Cloth, Gold Titles 50 CENTS. 

CONUNDRUMS AND RIDDLES. 

Collected and arranged by John Ray. This is the latest, 
largest and best collection of Conundrums and Riddles 
ever published. Containing upwards of two thousand 
choice new intellectual Conundrums and Riddles 
which will sharpen your wit and lead you to think 
quickly. They are always a source of great amuse* 
ment and pleasure, whiling away tedious hours and 
putting every one in a general good humor. Any per- 
son, with the assistance of this book, may take the 
lead in entertaining a company and keep them in roars 
of laughter for hours. We heartily recommend it to 
Amateurs and professionals for entertainments of all 
kinds. 

Paper Covers 25 CENTS. 

Cloth, Gold Titles 50 CENTS. 

Any Book Advertised in This Catalogue Sent, 

Postpaid, on Receipt of Price. 

FREDERICK J. DRAKE & CO., 

352-356 Dearborn St., Chicago. 

SEND FOR COMPLETE CATALOGUE. 



CATALOGUE OF P. J. DRAKE & CO. 



TOASTS AND AFTER-DINNER SPEECHES. 

Compiled and Edited by William Young Stafford. 
How many times have you been called upon to re- 
spond to some toast or speech? What would you not 
give for the ability to be rid of this embarrassment? 
This book contains Presentation Speeches, At and 
After Dinner Speeches, Political Speeches, Welcomes, 
Congratulations, School Commencement Valedictories, 
etc. Also toasts and welcomes on various subjects. 
From this book you may learn some lessons that will 
prove profitable when called upon to speak or respond 
to some toast or sentiment. Send for a copy and pre- 
pare yourself. 

Not only is it valuable to the novice, but the experi- 
enced orator will find many good suggestions. 

Paper Covers 25 CENTS. 

Cloth, Gold Titles 50 CENTS. 

PATRIOTIC READINGS AND RECITATIONS. 

This is the choicest, newest and most complete col- 
lection of Patriotic recitations published, and include 
all of the best known selections, together with the best 
uttrances of all eminent statesmen. Selections for 
Decoration Day, Fourth of July, Washington and Lin- 
coln's Birthdays, Arbor Day, Labor Day, and all other 
Patriotic occasions. The following are some of the 
many choice pieces included in this valuable work: 
The Battle of Santiago. That Starry Flag of Ours. 
Hobson's Daring Deed. Deeds of Valor at Santi- 
Gen. Wheeler at Santiago. ago. 
The Flag Goes By. The Negro Soldier. 

In Manilla Bay. - A Race for Dear Life. 

My Soldier Boy. Our Country's Call. 

The Yankees in Battle. Patriotism of American 

The Banner Betsy Made. Women. 
The Battle Field. The Roll Call. 

Washington's Name. Sinking of the Merrimac. 

The Stars and Stripes. The Fourth of July. 

Our Flag. Columbia. 

Etc., Etc., Etc. Etc., Etc., Etc. 

There are few things more popular during National 
Holidays than entertainments and exhibitions, and 
there is scarcely anything more difficult to procure 
than new and meritorious material appropriate for 
such occasions. This book will fill every want. 

Paper Covers 25 CENTS. 

Cloth, Gold Titles 50 CENTS. 

Any Book Advertised in This Catalog-tie Sent, 

Postpaid, on Receipt of Price. 

FREDERICK J. DRAKE & CO., 

352-356 Dearborn St., Chicago. 

SEND FOR COMPLETE CATALOGUE. 



CATALOGUE OF F. J. DRAKE & CO. 5 

''COMIC RECITATIONS" AND READINGS. 

A New Volume of Comic readings and Recitations, 
compiled and edited by Wm. Young Stafford. Many of 
which have never before been published in book form. 
Its contents comprise some of the best efforts of such 
world-renowned humorists as Mark Twain, Joseph Bil- 
lings Artemus Ward, Ezra Kendall, Bret Harte, Bill 
Nye. Ben King, Geo. Thatcher, Lew Dockstader, Wm. 
S. Gilbert, James Whitcomb Riley and others. 

This is an unequalled collection of the most amusing, 
eccentric, droll and humorous pieces, suitable for reci- 
tation in schools, drawing-room entertainments, and 
Amateur Theatricals. It would be impossible to find 
so many irresistibly funny pieces in any other tongue. 
They range irom the most refined wit to the broadest 
farcical humor; but always free from even an approach 
to vulgarity. 

Paper Covers 25 CENTS. 

Cloth, Gold Titles 50 CENTS. 

LITTLE POLKS* SPEAKER. 

Containing cute and catchy pieces for recitations by 
small children of ten years and much younger, includ- 
ing Speeches of Welcome and short Epilogues for 
opening and closing Children's Eentertainments. The 
subjects are such as delight the infantile mind and 
the language, while childlike, is not childish. All of 
the selections are new and fresh, many being specially 
written for this volume. It would be difficult to find 
another collection so replete with short, bright, cheery 
printed pieces as contained in this book. 

Paper Covers 25 CENTS. 

Cloth, Gold Titles 50 CENTS. 

DELIGHTFUL ENTERTAINMENTS. 

With programmes for amusements, containing parlor 
games; charming tableaux; tricks of magic; charades, 
and conundrums; curious puzzles; phrenology and mind 
reading; hypnotism; palmistry; humorous and pathetic 
recitations, dialogues, etc., etc. Including etiquette and 
the art of entertaining, the whole forming a charming 
treasury of pastimes for the home, public schools, and 
academies, lodges, social gatherings, amateur theatri- 
cals, Sunday-schools, etc. Beutifully illustrated with 
hundreds of fine engravings. Size 7^x10. Elegantly 
bound in cloth, with emblematic designs in gold and 
inks. 350 double column pages; clear type. 
Price $1.75 

Any Book Advertised in This Catalogue Sent, 

Postpaid, on Receipt of Price. 

FREDERICK J. DRAKE & CO., 

352-356 Dearborn St., Chicago. 

SEND FOR COxMPLETE CATALOGUE. 



CATALOGUE OF F. J. DRAKE & CO. 



HAVERLY'S NEGRO MINSTRELS. 

A complete hand book written to encourage, help and 
guide amateurs in their efforts to form troupes and 
give a successful evening's performance. An entire 
program is arranged with full details, consisting of a 
first part with the brightest dialogue between "Tam- 
foo," "Bones" and the "Middleman;" the introduction 
of ballads and songs, etc., new and side-splitting stump 
speeches follow, filling the interim between the first and 
second parts. The latter suggests the usual olio per- 
formance of dances, banjo solo and novelty acts. The 
entire program is concluded by a fine afterpiece given 
bv most of the troupe. 

There is no more popular and successful form of 
public entertainment for amateurs than negro minstrel 
shows. Thev consist of music and fun and when free 
from vulgarity are bound to please any audience. Mr. 
Jack Haverly was one of the most widely experienced 
men on the minstrel stage, and in this book has drawn 
on his stock of tried features, selecting and offering 
his best therefrom. 

Besides arranging the program and giving the com- 
plete dialogue for the same from the rising to tl\e 
falling of the curtain, Mr. Haverlv has prefaced it by 
short chapters on "Make-up," "Dress," "Settings" and 
some very helpful general remarks. 

The additional matter in the way of gags and jokes 
makes this book one of the best joke books published. 

Descriptions of how to walk the cake-walk, and 
other useful matter, all of which makes this book the 
most complete one of the subject ever issued. 

Paper Covers 25 CENTS. 

Cloth, Gold Titles 50 CENTS. 

PACIOLOGY. 

By La Vergne Belden Stevens, L.L.B. New edition 
revised and enlarged. Presenting this volume to the 
public the publishers have refrained as much as pos- 
sible from being too scientific, and to present it in a 
clear and practical form. Each chapter is profusely 
illustrated, by heads and faces taken from photo- 
graphs from life of the most famous men and women 
who are noted for abnormal developments, good or 
bad. If you want to know Human Nature you should 
procure a cony of this valuable work. 

Paper Covers -. 25 CENTS. 

Cloth, Gold Titles 50 CENTS. 

Any Book: Advertised in This Catalogue Sent, 

Postpaid, on Receipt of Price. 

FREDERICK J. DRAKE & CO., 

352-356 Dearborn St., Chicago. 

SEND FOR COMPLETE CATALOGUE. 



CATALOGUE OF F. J. DRAKE & CO. 



COMPLETE DEBATER'S MANUAL. 

By. Charles Walter Brown. This book will fill a place 
occupied by no other. It is not only a manual of parlia- 
mentary usages but a complete guide to all matters 
pertaining to Organization. In Parliamentary Usages 
it is f-ill and accurate. It gives in brief space all es- 
sentials of parliamentary usages as applied to: Lodges, 
G. A. R. Posts, High School Societies, Literary and 
Debating Clubs, Town and Ward Meetings, Political 
Conventions, etc. 

Debating Clubs will find this book unequaled. It tells 
us all about how to start the machinery. How to out- 
line and prepare a debate. It gives full debates, sd 
that the inexperienced speaker may know about what ho 
is expected to say, and how much is required to fill his 
allotted time. In Organization "The Debator's Manual" 
excels. It begins with the first steps and gives a model 
organization, Constitution, By-Laws, etc. 

Price, Paper Covers 25 CENTS. 

Cloth, Gold Titles 50 CENTS. 

NEW CENTURY AMERICAN STAR SPEAKER. 

Being a standard work on Composition and Oratory. 
Containing rules for expressing written thought in a 
correct and elegant manner; model selections from the 
most famous authors; subjects for compositions and 
how to treat them; use of illustrations; Descriptive, 
Pathetic and Humorous writings, etc., etc. Together 
with a Peerless Collection of Readings and Recita- 
tions, including programmes for special occasions from 
authors of world-wide renown, for Public Schools, 
Academies, Colleges, Lodges, Sunday-Schools and 
Social Entertainments. The whole forming an un- 
rivaled Self-Educator for young people. Embellished 
with hundreds of fine illustrations. 

Large 8-Vo. Cloth binding, with original designs on 
front and back covers. Price $1.75 

PRACTICAL ETIQUETTE. 

A strictly modern book on Politeness. Just what one 
needs to keep in touch with what is "Correct" at the 
present time. Hints on politeness and good breeding, 
sensible talks about etiquette for home, visiting, travel- 
ing, dinner parties, evening entertainments, social inter- 
courses, dress, letter writing, etc. 

Price. Paper Cover 25 CENTS. 

Cloth, Gold Titles 50 CENTS. 

Any Book: Advertised in This Catalogue Sent, 

Postpaid, on Receipt of Price. 

FREDERICK J. DRAKE & CO., 

352-356 Dearborn St., Chicago. 

SEND FOR COMPLETE CATALOGUE. 



CATALOGUE OP F. J. DRAKE & CO. 



"IRISH WIT AND HUMOR," 

Containing the best sayings of all Irish speakers and 
the efforts of all famous Irish dialect writers. Irish 
wit and humor is a factor in human experience which 
the world can ill afford to lose. In some of its quali- 
ties it is second to the wit and humor of no nation on 
earth. Judging it by its average specimens— and it 
would be manifestly misleading to take a lower stand- 
ard—it manages to convey an idea fully; but in its 
haste to express itself,— the metaphors get mixed, and 
the thoughts transposed or reversed. For playfulness, 
for sarcastic keenness, for gracefulness, and for red- 
hot scornfulness, nothing is more effective than some 
of the examples of the wit and humor of the Irishman, 
as told in this timely volume. Amateur theatricals or 
entertainments of any character will find this book a 
most acceptable addition for gathering material. 

Paper Covers 25 CENTS. 

Cloth, Gold Titles 50 CENTS. 

HOW TO TELL, FORTUNES BY CARDS. 

By Madame Zancig. Fully illustrated. This little 
manual has been written to give amusement, and it 
describes the methods that are commonly used by 
Gypsies and others when they profess to "read ycur 
fortune." Many have witnessed a great number of 
most wonderful and useful conclusions which have been 
produced by this science, and many future events have 
been foretold. Much depends on the ingenuity and skill 
of the reader, who, after having duly obtained the true 
and full meaning that each card in the pack bears sepa- 
rately, and in its independent state, must be also fully 
enabled to form, judge, and vary all their several mix- 
tures, company, and combinations, which are easily 
deducted and calculated by a person of an ordinary 
capacity. Any one can tell the present, past and fu- 
ture by following these simple instructions. Fully illus- 
trated. 

Paper Covers 25 CENTS. 

Cloth, Gold Title 50 CENTS. 

HIBERNIAN SONGSTER. 

A grand collection of over 500 songs that are dear 
to the Irish heart. Including sheets of selected music 
and numerous toasts and sentiments. 

Paper Covers 25 CENTS. 

Cloth, Gold Titles 50 CENTS. 

Any Book Advertised in. This Catalogue Sent, 

Postpaid, on Receipt of Price. 

FREDERICK J. DRAKE & CO., 

352-356 Dearborn St., Chicago. 

SEND FOR COMPLETE CATALOGUE. 



CATALOGUE OF F. J. DRAKE & CO. 9 

L.OVE LETTERS. 

With directions how to write and when to use them. 
By Ingoldsby North. This is a branch of correspond- 
ence which fully demands a volume alone to provide 
for the various phases incident to Love, Courtship, and 
Marriage. Few persons, however otherwise fluent with 
the pen, are able to express in words the promptings 
of the first dawn of love, and even, the ic? once 
broken, how to follow up a correspondence with the 
dearest one in the whole world and how to smooth the 
way with those who need to be consulted in the mat- 
ter. Ihe numerous letters and answers in this book 
go far to overcome the difficulties and embarrassment 
inseparable from letters on this all-absorbing topic, in 
all stages from beginning to end of a successful court- 
ship, aided in many instances by the author's sensible 
comments on the specimen letters, and his valuable 
hints under adverse contingencies. It also contains 
the Art of Secret Writing. The language of Love por- 
trayed, and rules in grammar. 

Paper Covers 25 CENTS. 

Cloth 50 CENTS. 

AMERICAN IDEAL HOMES. 

Edited by Benj. F. Cobb, containing plans of Eighty 
houses, ranging in price from $550 up to $6 500, two 
churches, five barns, three sheds, one store building 
and summer cottages. These plans were drawn by a 
licensed architect of the State of Illinois, who has 
given his especial attention to the planning of medium- 
priced houses. In designing these house plans great 
care has been taken in making these perspectives 
artistic and the arrangement of the houses convenient, 
and the floor plans of the different houses presented 
offer so many suggestions as to make the book almost 
invaluable to anyone planning a home. The book is 
T^xlO 1 /^ inches in size and is bound in English green 
cloth. The perspective views and floor plans, which are 
both given, are printed from the best half-tone cuts 
on enamel paper, and the prices of the blue prints and 
specifications, which we furnish, are shown in the 
book. The average price of the blue prints and speci- 
fications is five dollars a set, and they are just the 
same as plans which if prepared especially for you 
by an architect would cost you from fifty to seventy- 
five dollars. 
Pr'ce. Cloth Binding $1.50 

Any Book Advertised in This Catalogue Sent, 

Postpaid, on Receipt of Price. 

FREDERICK J. DRAKE & CO., 

352-356 Dearborn St., Chicago. 

SEND FOR COMPLETE CATALOGUE. 



10 CATALOGUE OF F. J. DRAKE & CO. 

BROWN'S BUSINESS LETTER WRITER AND BOOK 
OF SOCIAL FORMS. 

By C. W. Brown. The most complete practical com- 
pendium of correspondence and business forms ever 
published. Gives full instructions for writing, and speci- 
mens of Business Letters, Legal Forms, Leases, Deeds, 
Wills, Contracts; models for Refined Love-Letters, cov- 
ering Courtship, Engagements, Marriage; Social Forms, 
Invitations, Acceptances, Regrets, Condolences; Family 
Letters for Parents, Guardians and Children; How to 
address the President and Government Officials. Also 
leading synonyms. Teaches how to write correctly. 

When you wish to write a letter you have only to 
consult the book, find the model, and then form your 
letter upon that, putting what you want to say to suit 
yourself. 

"Brown's Letter Writer" is not full of love-sick 
effusions and long-winded models of high flown style 
from impossible Chesterfields to imaginary Counts or 
Duchesses. It is plain, easy and to the point. It will 
tell you anything you really need in the way of a 
letter. 

Paper Cover 25 CENTS. 

Cloth, Gold Titles 50 CENTS. 

HERRMANN'S BOOK OF MAGIC. 

Including a full exposure of the Black Art. This is a 
practical treatise on how to perform modern tricks, by 
Prof. Herrmann. Great care has been exercised by the 
author to include in this book only such tricks as have 
never before appeared in print. This assures the per- 
former a secret and almost endless fund for suitable 
material to be used on all occasions. With little prac- 
tice, almost anyone can perform the more simple tricks^ 
and with practice, as he becomes more adept, he can 
perform the most difficult. No book published contain:-" 
a greater variety of material for conjurers and sleight- 
of-hand performers than this book. Coins, cards, silk 
hat, handkerchiefs, balls, are all introduced in the many 
programs offered, thus affording one an endless variety 
from which to select for parlor or stage entertainments. 
Fully illustrated. By a knowledge of what is contained 
in this book on Black Art, you can make the weak as 
strong as a lion, or the "bully" as timid as a child. You 
can cure disease, cause others to come to you, love you, 
and obey your every wish. Or, if you desire, you can 
make fun by the hour through its agency. 

Paper Covers 25 CENTS. 

Cloth, Gold Titles 50 CEIVPS. 

Any Book Advertised in This Catalogue Sent, 

Postpaid, on Receipt of Price. 

FREDERICK J. DRAKE & CO., 

352-350 Dearborn St., Chicago. 

SEND FOR COMPLETE CATALOGUE. 



CATALOGUE OF F. J. DRAKE & CO. 11 

"PRACTICAL. LESSONS IN HYPNOTISM." 

By L. W. De Laurence, A.M., Ph.D., LL.D., Instruc- 
tor of Hypnotism, Personal Magnetism, Messmerism, 
Magnetic Healing, Suggestive Therapeutics, Psychol- 
ogy, etc., at the American School of Psychology. This 
is the author's latest and best work. It gives the only 
course which starts the student out upon a plain, com- 
mon sense basis of Hypnotizing people. Each of the 
many chapters contain from ten to thirty practical les- 
sons prepared especially for self-instruction, a feature 
never before offered the public. Many books pub- 
lished on Hypnotism pretend to teach the student with- 
out first mastering the real principles and entirely ig- 
noring the constituent elements of Psychology. Prof. 
De Laurence teaches a method which will enable any 
student to go right into a promiscuous audience without 
any subjects whom you have previously hypnotized, and 
give successful hypnotic demonstrations. He has 
demonstrated the fact that anybody who can read can 
learn his methods as contained in this valuable book, 
the instructions are plain and the methods are the 
result of long experience, careful research, and much 
study. Thousands have mastered his instructions as 
taught in this book, and are now successfully apply- 
ing Personal Magnetism and Hypnotism in their daily 
vocations, which is sufficient evidence to prove the 
worth of this volume. Be sure and get this book, Prac- 
tical Lessons in Hypnotism, By L. W. De Lawrence. 
Fully illustrated. 

Paper Covers 25 CENTS. 

Cloth, Gold Titles 50 CENTS. 

<<SAFE METHODS OF BUSINESS." 

Containing the latest and most correct methods of 
conducting every business on absolutely safe principles, 
by Hon. FranK Gilbert, Ex-Sub Treasurer U. S. To the 
busy person time is money, and, for the idle, informa- 
tion has little attraction. The book that is terse, point- 
ed and pithy is the one that is read and prized. This 
volume possesses these requisites in a remarkable de- 
gree. It contains no dead matter, the pages being filled 
with facts, figures and general information, involving 
law, both State and National, commerce, agriculture, 
social customs, mercantile transactions, and calcula- 
tions, and the rights and wrongs of civil life — all in a 
form carefully designed for practical utility. 12 Mo., 
Cloth, 300 pages, fully illustrated. 
Price $1.00. 

Any Book Advertised in This Catalogue Sent, 

Postpaid, on Receipt of Price. 

FREDERICK J. DRAKE & CO., 

352-356 Dearborn St., Chicago. 

SEND FOR COMPLETE CATALOGUE. 



12 CATALOGUE OF F. J. DRAKE & CO. 

BECAUSE I LOVE YOU. 
The Book of Love, Courtship and Carriage. 

It fully explains How Maidens Become Happy Wives 
and Bachelors Become Happy Husbands in a brief 
space of time and by easy methods. Also Complete Di- 
rections for Declaring Intentions, Accepting- Vows and 
Retaining Affections both Before and After Marriage, 
describing the invitations, the dresses, the ceremony, 
and the proper behavior of both bride and bridegroom, 
whether in public or behind the nuptial curtain. It also 
tells plainly how to begin courting, the way to get 
over bashfulness the way to "sit up," the way to 
find the soft spot in the sweetheart's breast, the way 
to write a love letter, the way to easily win a girl's con- 
sent, the way to "do up things" before and after en r 
gagement, and hundreds of other things of vast import- 
ance to lovers. This is just the treatise to be in the 
hands of every young bachelor or maiden, every mar- 
ried man or woman, every widow or widower, young 
and old. 

Paper Covers 25 CENTS. 

Cloth, Gold Titles 50.CENTS. 

LESSONS ON PHRENOLOGY. 

A Complete Illustrated treatise. By Prof. William 
Windsor, L.L.B., Ph. D. Phrenologist and Anthropolo- 
gist. New Edition revised and enlarged. The unremit- 
ting demand made by an indulgent and appreciative 
public for a new edition of the lectures, By Prof. Wind- 
sor, has compelled the publishers to issue this new and 
complete course in Phreeology, which is in every re- 
gard a most careful and easy method of Instruction 
In that popular science. The book is fully illustrated 
with carefully prepared drawings, which will enable 
any one to fully master the profession. 

Paper Covers 25 CENTS. 

Cloth, Gold Title 50 CENTS. 

LITTLE FOLKS' DIALOGUES AND DRAMAS. 

A collection of original Dialogues and Dramas by 
various authors, sprightly and sensible, particularly 
adapted for little neople from three to twelve years 
old, on subjects and ideas fitted to their age, handled 
in the quaint manner of childhood, and developing the 
germ of mimicry and appropriate action, so often ob- 
served in even children of tender age. Suitable for 
all occasions. Special day celebrations, etc. With 
costumes for boys and girls. 

Paper Covers 25 CENTS. 

Cloth, Gold Titles 50 CENTS. 

Any Book Advertised In This Catalogue Sent, 

Postpaid, on Receipt of Priee. 

FREDERICK J. DRAKE & CO., 

352-35G Dearborn St., Chicagro. 

SEND FOR COMPLETE CATALOGUE. 



Catalogue of f. j. drake & co. 13 



MODERN QUADRILLE CALL BOOK AND COMPLETE 
DANCING MASTER. 

Containing all the new modern square dances and 
tabulated forms for the guidance jf Che leader or others 
in calling them, full and complete directions for per- 
forming every known square dance, such as Plain 
Quad rills. Polka Quadrills, Prairie Queen, United 
States Quadrille, Presidential Quadrille, Varieties 
Quadrille, Francaise, Cake Walk Quadrille, Dixie Fig- 
ure, Gill I Left Behind Me, Old Dan Tucker, Money 
Musk Waltz Lanciers, American National Lanciers, 
Military Lanciers, Columbian Lanciers, Oakland 
Minuet, Waltz Quadrilles, etc., etc. 

In the Round Dances, a special feature consists of 
the introduction of the Wirth and other newest meth- 
ods of teaching the steps of the waltz, etc., so thor- 
oughly illustrated by diagrams that they can be per- 
fectly mastered without the need of personal introduc- 
tion. In this manner are clearly described the Waltz, 
Galop, the Plain, Guide, and Heel-and-Toe Polkas, Mili- 
tary .Schottische, the York, Caprice, Berlin, Minuet, 

The "German" introduces over One Hundred of the 
newest and most popular Figures, fully described, and 
conveniently grouped for ready reference, 
etc., etc. 

Every information in regard to the service of Bail- 
Room Etiquette, duties of Leaders, and general in- 
struction is fully and clearlv given. 

Paper Covers 25 CENTS. 

Cloth, Gold Titles 50 CENTS. 

THE GYPSY WITCH DREAM BOOK AND POLICY 
PLAYER'S GUIDE. 

This is the most complete dream book and policy 
players' guide published. It contains an alphabetical 
list of dreams on every subject, including the lucky 
numbers, given names of both males and females and 
their numbers. Birthdays and their significance, Lucky 
Days, Rules to learn the number of Saddles, Gigs, ajid 
Horses in any given row of numbers, and wha 1 " amount 
they will bring, Combination tables, etc. It is the most 
reliable and authentic dream book ever published, the" 
gathering of the material alone has occupied many 
years of careful research. 

Paper Covers .25 CENTS. 

Cloth 50 CENTS. 



Any Book Advertised in This Catalogue Sent, 

Postpaid, on Receipt of Price. 

FREDERICK J. DRAKE & CO., 

352-356 Dearborn St., Chicago. 

SEND FOR COMPLETE CATALOGUE. 



14 CATALOGUE OF F. J. DRAKE & CO. 

"ELECTRICITY FOR ENGINEERS." 

By Charles Desmond. Tenth Edition, revised and 
enlarged. This is the accepted standard authority on 
Electricity for Engineers. Two volumes in one. Vol- 
ume one (constant current), contains a clear and com- 
prehensive treatise on the principles, construction and 
operation of dynamos, moters, lamps, indicators, and 
measuring instruments, also a full explanation of the 
electrical terms used in the book. Volume two (Alter- 
nate Current Apparatus), contains an explanation of 
the principles governing the generator of, and a de- 
scription of the instruments and machinery used in con- 
nection with Alternate electrical currents. Superbly 
illustrated with 138 fine line illustrations. 12 Mo. 
Cloth, 430 pages. Price $2.51). 

FIRST LESSONS IN ELECTRICITY. 

By W. Jerome Harrison. Revised and enlarged by 
William L. Weber. This is an elementary hand book 
of lessons, experiments and inventions. It is a book for 
beginners, though it includes as well examples for the 
advanced students. The author stands second* to none 
in the scientific world, and this exhaustive work will be 
found an invaluable assistance to either the student 
or mechanic. The following subjects are treated: 
Frictional electricity, magnetism, current electricity, 
electrostatics, electromagnetics, measurements, of cur- 
rents, electro-optics, induction currents, electro-chem- 
istry, telegraphs and telephones, etc., etc. 

Paper Covers 25 CENTS. 

Cloth 50 CENTS. 

STANDARD PERFECTION POULTRY BOOK. 

By C. C. Shoemaker. The recognized standard work 
in poultry in this country adopted by the Breeders' 
Poultry Association. It contains a complete descrip- 
tion of all the varieties of. fowls, including Turkeys, 
Ducks, and Geese, also full «lirections for operating in- 
cubators and brooders. 

Many old-fashioned farmers are inclined to discredit 
the statement that there js money in poultry. Why? 
Because they are not up to the new and improved ideas 
in poultry management. A little trial of the rules laid 
down in this book will soon dispel all misgivings in this 
direction, and tend to convince the most skeptical that 
there is money in poultry-keeping. Fully illustrated. 

Paper Covers 25 CENTS. 

Cloth ..50 CENTSt 

Any Book Advertised in This Catalogue Sent, 

Postpaid, on Receipt of Price. 

FREDERICK J. DRAKE & CO., 

352-356 Dearborn St., Chicago. 

SEND FOR COMPLETE CATALOGUE. 



CATALOGUE OF F. J. DRAKE & CO. 15 

PRACTICAL, HOUSE BUILDER. 

Compiled and edited by H. E. Burnham, Architect. 
This valuable little manual gives in simple style the 
correct and most economical plans and specifications for 
building houses for towns .or country, barns, stables, 
churches, etc. It deals thoroughly with the practical 
building of a house; hundreds of details which the 
amateur builder usually learns through expensive ex- 
perience. It contains specimens ■ of contracts, specifi- 
cations and plans, and a study of it will save omission 
and extras. The plans deal with houses costing from 
$300 to $4,000, which makes it the most valuable and up- 
to-date house builder published. Fully illustrated. 

Paper Covers 25 CENTS. 

Cloth, Gold Title 50 CENTS. 

TOKOLOGY. 

A book for every woman. By Alice B. Stockham, 
M.D. This is unquestionably the most valuable work 
of the kind published. The author, in sympathy with 
the needs of her sex, discusses at length, with strength 
and purity, physical questions of the greatest import- 
ance. Complete, plain and specific directions for the 
care of a woman during the entire term of pregnancy, 
including baths, diet, exercise, clothing and medical 
treatment. Explicit lessons are given for her manage- 
ment during and after confinement. Plain instructions 
for the care of an infant, its clothing, bathing, nursing, 
etc., are given. Profusely illustrated. Also a special 
chart of female organs. 

Cloth $2.25. 

Morocco $2.75. 

HOUSEHOLD COOK BOOK. 

Complete Modern Housekeeping Manual. A compre- 
hensive collection of new, choice and thoroughly tested 
recipes, including every department of domestic codk- 
ery. Especially adapted for household use. Also con- 
taining medical and toilet hints, invalid cookery, plans 
for setting the table, carving, and a great variety of 
information invaluable to every housekeeper. Profusely 
illustrated. 

Besides being the very latest it is also the largest 
and most reliable Cook Book published. Everything is 
practical, and of the twenty-eight hundred cooking 
and house-keeping recipes, the greater majority will 
be found serviceable in all homes. While the aim has 
been to give the receipts for all dishes, even the more 
elaborate have not been overlooked. 

(Continued on page 16.) 

Any Book Advertised in This Catalogue Sent, 

Postpaid, on Receipt of Price. 

FREDERICK J. DRAKE & CO., 

352-35G Dearborn St., Chicago. 

SEND FOR COMPLETE CATALOGUE* 



16 



CATALOGUE OF F. J. DRAKE & CO. 



HOUSEHOLD COOK BOOK— Continued. 

The book contains 656 large octavo pages, hand- 
somely printed from new plates on a good quality of 
toned paper. It is handsomely bound in white oil clith 
with marble edges and is embossed with a special cover 
design in inks. Price $150 

There are nearly double the number of recipes in this 
book that are found in any other book published, as 
will be found in the comparative table below: 



o ?» 

w~ 



O 

2z 




"1 

O rt- 


w 

Oo 


S3 


wa> 


*£ 


5k 


WW 


Wo 


• <D 


o o 


o X* 




: p 


os 


o& 


w 


: » 


• (0 


w 



No. "Words 

No. Pages 

Recipes, Total No.. 

Recipes for Fish — 

Recipes for Soups.. 

Recipes for Shell 
Fish , 

Recipes for Sauces 
for Fish and Meat 

Recipes for Meats.. 

Recipes for Salads. 

Recipes for Vegeta- 
bles 

Recipes f. Puddings 
and Dumplings ... 

Recipes for Cakes.. 

Recipes for Deserts 

Recipes for Ice 
Creams and Ices, 

Recipes for Candy 
Making 

Recipes for Jams, 
Jellies, 
Marmalades 

Recipes for Pickles 

Recipes for Bever- 
ages 

Recipes for Invalid 
Cookery 

Recipes for Chafing 
Dish ' 



198,000 

536 

1,200 

39 

43 



42 

10S 

18 



None 



20 



None 



201,000 

587 

1,300 

41 

47 


242,000 

| 554 

2,300 

1 60 

65 


1 240,000 

590 

1,850 

59 

53 


32 


33 


46 


41 

120 

34 


28 
103 

38 


38 

134 

30 


73 


101 


100 


25 
52 
45 


112 

138 
112 


125 

125 
108 


43 


24 


19 


28 


44 


41 


32 
6 


110 

60 


39 
31 


30 


30 


52 


None 


56 


45 


20 


None 


None 1 



410,000 

656 

2,800 

170 



100 
243 



176 



303 
152 



55 
75 



142 

75 



97 



Any Book Advertised in This Catalogue Sent, 

Postpaid, on Receipt of Price. 

FREDERICK J. DRAKE & CO., 

352-356 Dearborn St., Chicago. 

SEND FOR COMPLETE CATALOGUE. 



CATALOGUE OF F. J. DRAKE & CO. * 17 

•I'HE MAGICIAN'S HAND-BOOK. 
By "Selbit." If you wish to be up to the minute 
you must have the new book on Magic and 
Illusions. 

The pages of this excellent cyclopedia on Magic 
abound with thorough descriptions and beautiful illus- 
trations of the Very Newest Tricks and Illusions, and 
also contains a great many hints which will prove in- 
valuable to the amateur as well as the professional ma- 
gician. It is also the only work published which con- 
tains full instructions on the Art of Juggling. 

We highly recommend the purchase of this book, 
which is far superior to any of the numerous works 
on Conjuring which have appeared in the late years. 
So confident are we of the fact that our customers will 
be more than pleased with this book, we offer to re- 
fund the amount paid for it, if the book does not come 
up in every way to the purchaser's expectation. 

Fully Illustrated; 12 Mo. Cloth $1.00 

ZANCIG'S NEW COMPLETE PALMISTRY. 

The only authorized edition published. By Prof, and 
Mme. Zancig. Here we have the simplest presentations 
of the Science of Modern Palmistry published. All of 
the discoveries, investigations and researches of cen- 
turies are summed up in" this practical treatise on 
Palmistry. There is no trait, no characteristic, no in- 
herited tendency that is not marked on the palm of the 
hand, and can be traced with unerring accuracy by fol- 
lowing the principles and instructions laid down in 
this book, enforced by numerous timely illustrations 
of known historical personages. Even a casual reading 
of this book will enable us to know our own character 
better and give us convincing proof of the sincerity or 
insincerity of friends— or professing ones. If a careful 
study is then made you will be astonished at the ac- 
curacy with which you can read the life-history of any 
one through the graven lines on the palms. 86 fine 
illustrations. N. B.— Other editions bearing the name 
of Zancigs are not authorized by them. 

Paper Covers 25 CENTS. 

Cloth Titles in Gold 50 CENTS. 

COMPLETE PHOTOGRAPHIC INSTRUCTOR. 

By T. Stith Baldwin. The camera is now recognized 
as a factor in the fields of pleasure, profit and instruc- 
tion and is used by every class of citizen; by the tour- 
ist and other pleasure seekers as an adjunct to further 
the enjoyment of a vacation and to provide lasting 
(Continued on Page 18.) 

Any Book Advertised in This Catalogue Sent? 

Postpaid, on Receipt of Price. 

FREDERICK J. DRAKE & CO., 

352-356 Dearborn St., Chicago. 

SEND FOR COMPLETE CATALOGUE. 



18 CATALOGUE OF F. J. DRAKE & CO. 



COMPLETE PHOTOGRAPHIC INSTRUCTOR— Con- 
tinued. 

souvenirs of a pleasant experience: by the professional 
man as a most valued assistant in scientific research; 
toy the itinerant photographer as a means of liveli- 
hood, as he travels from place to place. 

Any man, woman or child of ordinary intelligence, 
without previous experience, by simply following print- 
ed instructions, can soon acquire the knowledge neces- 
sarv to properly operate the camera, develop the plate 
(or film), and print and finish the picture. It also con- 
tains full instructions for Lantern-slide and transpar- 
ency making, fully illustrated. 

Paper Covers 25 CENTS. 

Cloth 50 CENTS. 

CARD TRICKS. How to Do Them. 

and principles of Sleight of Hand. By Prof. A. Rotor- 
berg. Fully Illustrated. This book gives, with careful 
and easy instructions, the newest card tricks and 
Sleight of hand yet offered to professionals and ama- 
teurs. Not only does this book contain all of the new 
tricks, but nearly every one known is fully explained 
and exposed by explicit directions and carefully pre- 
pared illustrations. No more agreeable form of pub- 
lic or private amusement can be devised than that of 
successful card tricks. The great trouble is usually 
the difficulty in learning the tricks or in successfully 
producing them. This book gives plain instructions 
how to do them so as to render their production certain 
of success. 80 fine illustrations. 

Paper Covers 25 CENTS. 

Cloth, Gold Titles 50 CENTS. 

TRICKS WITH COINS. 

Embracing every sleight and subtlety invented 
and known, By T. Nelson Downs, "King of 
Koins." Illustrated. 

Full and complete expose (illustrated) of the Author's 
World-Famous Coin Creation, "The Miser's Dream" 
including the correct method of executing the Continu- 
ous Back and Front-Hand Palm. 

A Series of absolutely new Passes with Coins, includ- 
ing eleven distinct and different methods of causing the 
disappearance of a single coin. 

This Book contains a complete explanation, with illus- 
trations of many Coin Tricks and the Author. Written 
in a plain, easy, comprehensive style, which makes it 
the very best book on coin tricks published. 

Paper Covers 25 CENTS. 

Cloth 50 CENTS. 

Any Book Advertised in This Catalogue Sent, 

Postpaid, on Receipt of Price. 

FREDERICK J. DRAKE & CO., 

352-356 Dearborn St., Chicago. 

SEND FOR COMPLETE CATALOGUE. 



CATALOGUE OF P. J. DRAKE & CO. 1* 

Drake's Descriptive List of Plays. 



NEW PLAYS AND ENTERTAINMENTS. 

These plays are of the highest order of merit, and 
make the very best list before the public. They are 
spirited in action and rich in variety of incident, con- 
taining- pathos, delightful humor, and sparkling wit. 
This series contains no worthless nor worn-out plays. 
Every one is up-to-date. None of them is in any way 
objectionable to the most fastidious. All can be pro- 
duced in any town or village hall, many of them on a 
platform or in the parlor, without scenery or proper- 
ties. 

ALL THAT GLITTERS IS NOT GOLD. 15 Cents. 

A comic drama in two acts, by Thos. and J. M. Mor- 
ton. Six male, three female characters. Two interior 
scenes. Time, two hours. A standard play, pleasing to 
audiences of all grades, brimful of comic situations and 
containing some powerfully affecting passages. 

ARABIAN NIGHTS, THE. 15 Cents. 

A farsical comedy in three acts, by Sydney Grundy. 
Four male, five female characters. Costumes of to-day. 
Parlor scene throughout. Runs 2 1-4 hours. A superior 
piece from the literary point of view. 

AT SIXES AND SEVENS. 15 Cents. 

A comedietta in one act, by J. M. Morton. Three 
male, four female characters. Parlor scene. Modern 
costumes. Time, 45 minutes. The excellence of this 
gay little piece consists in the humor of its situations. 

BACHELORS BEDROOM, THE; OR TWO IN THE 
MORNING. 15 Cents. 

A farce in one act, by Charles Matthews. Two male 
characters. Time 40 minutes. Show the inconveniences 
that arise from inviting a crank to share your bed- 
room at 2 A. M.. Sometimes called "A Good Night's 
Rest." 

BARBARA. 15 Cents. 

A play in one act, by J. K. Jerome, two male, two 
female characters. Modern costumes. Sitting-room 
scene. Time, 50 minutes. A well written romantic 
story with touches of genuine humor. 

Any Book Advertised in This Catalogue Sent, 

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FREDERICK J. DRAKE & CO., 

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20 CATALOGUE OF F. J. DRAKE & CO. 

BARDELL vs. PICKWICK. 15 Cents. 

The trial scene from Dickens' "Pickwick Papers," by 
John .tiollingshead. Five male, two female, and as 
many others as may foe desired for jurors, ushers, etc. 
Scene, a court-room. Time, 30 minutes. Very funny 
and affords scope for "taking off" local legal celebrities. 

BETSY. 15 Cents. 

A farcical comedy in three acts, by F. C. Burnard. 
Seven males, six females. Modern customs. Time, 2% 
hours. Two interior scenes. A most successful play. 

BLACK MAIL. 15 Cents. 

A farce in one act, for three darky comedians. Inter- 
ior scene, or no scene at all. Time, about half an hour. 
A musical doctor, a youth whose valentines and love- 
letters get him into scrapes, and a colored gentleman 
very much "on the make," will create a great deal of 
laughter with their comicalities. Admits of specialties, 
and is very funny. 

BLACK STATUE, THE. 15 Cents. 

A farce in 1 act, by Charles White. 4 male (2 black 
faces), 2 female (played by male actors), characters. 
Scene, optional. Time of playing, 25 minutes. Old 
Squintum finds Pete making love to his daughter, and 
discharges him. The latter, with the help of Jake, a 
comical darky, and Pilgarlic, a sly cove, is sold to 
Squintum as a statue that makes life-like movements. 
The statue proves very lively and Squintum gets very 
badly sold. 

BOARDING SCHOOL, THE. 15 Cents. 

A farce in 1 act, by W. B. Bernard, as played at Wal- 
lack's Theatre, N. Y. 7 male. 5 female characters, and 
school-girls. Time, 1 hour. 

BOX AND COX. 15 Cents. 

A Negro farce, in 1 act, by Geo. Christy, for 3 black- 
face comedians, one impersonating an old woman. Cox 
is in the white washing business and wants lodgings at 
night; Box, a waiter, sleeps only in the daytime. Aunty 
Bouncer, the landlady, with both eyes open to business, 
rents the same room to both lodgers. Box gets a day 
off and returns to his garret only to find Cox in posses- 
sion. Then follows a circus and a reconciliation. No 
scenery required. Plays about 20 minutes. Extravag- 
antly funny. 

Any Book Advertised in Tliis Catalogue Sent, 

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FREDERICK J. DRAKE & CO., 

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CATALOGUE OF F. J. DRAKE & CO. 21 

BETSY BAKER; OR TOO ATTENTIVE BY HALF. 
15 Cents. 

A farce in one act, by J. M. Morton. Two male, two 
female characters. Parlor scene. Time, 45 minutes. A 
lively farce in which the action rushes straight to the 
climax without any complications or intricacies. 

CHANGE PARTNERS. 15 Cents. 

A comedietta in 1 act, by J. M. Morton, a male, 3 fe- 
male characters. Parlor scene. Modern Costumes. 
Time, 45 minutes. There is an uninterrupted vivacity 
about this breezy trifle that makes it play itself, while 
its comic situations provoke a succession of laughs. 
Each character has scope for effective acting. It never 
yet failed to please. No scenery required 15 CENTS 

CRICKET ON THE HEARTH, THE. 15 Cents. 

A drama in 3 acts, by Albert Smith. 6 male, 6 female 
characters. 3 interior scenes. Modern costumes. Time, 
2 hours. The entire range of theatrical literature does 
not present a better instance of "domestic" drama than 
this clever dramatization of Dickens' charming story. 

CUP OP TEA, A. 15 Cents. 

A comedietta in 1 act. 3 males, 1 female, viz.: light 
comedian, 2 low comedians and comedienne. Parlor 
scene. Modern costumes. Time, 30 minutes. A favorite 
parlor play in which Mr. Scroggins, a comical abscond- 
ing debtor, contrives to stand things on their heads 
generally before he gets his cup of tea. A spirited trifle 
that acts exceedingly well. 

PAST PRIENDS. 15 Cents. 

A comedietta in 1 act, by R. Henry. 2 female char- 
acters. Parlor scene. Modern costumes. Time, 20 min- 
utes. A conspiracy, a secret, a flare-up, and a reconcili- 
ation between two society ladies, that has met with 
much approval. No scenery required. 

FAIR ENCOUNTER, A. 15 Cents. 

A comedietta in 1 act, by Chas. M. Rae. 2 female 
characters. Parlor scene. Plain room scene. Moderfi 
costumes. Time, 30 minutes. A bright piece of the 
diamond-cut-diamond sort, in which one eccentric socie- 
ty leader masquerades as the new housemaid of anoth- 
er, in order to learn what sort of a sister-in-law the lat- 
ter will make. It is a war of woman's wit between two 
well matched adversaries. No scenery required. 

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FREDERICK J. DRAKE & CO., 

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22 CATALOGUE OF F. J. DRAKE & CO. 

FREEZING A MOTHER-IN-LAW. 15 Cents. 

A farce in 1 act, by T. E. Pemberton. 3 male, 2 fe- 
male characters. Parlor scene. Everyday costumes. 
Time, 45 minutes. One of the best of the "mother-in- 
law" plays, with chances for good acting all around, 
marked by keen humor of dialogue and uncommon drol- 
lery in its situations. 

FUNNIBONE'S FIX. 15 Cents. 

A farce in 1 act, by A. Williams. 6 male, 2 female 
characters. Office scene. Everyday costumes. Time, 30 
minutes. Represents a sub-editor's woes in running a 
country newspaper. Funny from first to last, with an 
irresistibly ludicrous ending. 

FURNISHED APARTMENTS. 15 Cents. 

A farce in 1 act. 5 male characters. Plain room 
scene or no scene at all. Time, 50 minutes. Dr. Planus 
lets his suit of rooms to Mr. Thompson, not knowing 
that they have already been let by his assistant to Mr. 
Smith. Both lodgers arriving to take possession at the 
same hour, a laughable scene ensues. 

GALLUS JAKE. 15 Cents. 

An Ethiopian comicality in 1 scene, for two black- 
face comedians. Kitchen scene, or no scene at all. 
Plays about 10 minutes. Ephraim, a white-washer, and 
Jake, a darky dude, have a comical spirit-rapping ex- 
perience that scares them out of their senses. 

HANDY ANDY. 15 Cents. 

An Irish drama in 2 acts, by W. R. Floyd. 10 male, 
3 female characters. Time, 1*4 hours. Full of absurdi- 
ties that provoke laughter. 

HAPPY PAIR, A. 15 Cents. 

A comedietta in 1 act, by S. Theyer Smith. 1 male, 1 
female— both light comedy. Time, 45 minutes. A highly 
diverting little play, full of brisk movement and giving 
wide scope to both characters for clever work. 

HARVEST STORM, THE. 15 Cents. 

A drama in 1 act, by C. H. Hazlewood. 10 male char- 
acters. Landscape scene. Time, 45 minutes. The story 
of a bank clerk falsely accused of embezzlement, and 
his final exculpation, is set forth with high dramatic 
effect and unflagging interest. 

Any Book Advertised in This Catalogue Sent, 

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FREDERICK J. DRAKE & CO., 

352-356 Dearborn St., Chicago. 

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CATALOGUE OF F. J. DRAKE & CO. 23 



HAUNTED HOUSE, THE. 15 Cents. 

A Negro farce in 1 act, by Griffin and Christy. 2 male 
characters (landlord and whitewasher) and several 
ghosts. Plain interior scene. Time, about 15 minutes. 
Pete Johnson tries a little spirit rapping and is scared 
nearly out of his wits in consequence. 

HIGHEST PRICE PAID FOR OLD CLOTHES; OR 

THE TAILOR'S STRIKE. 15 Cents. 

An original eccentricity in 1 scene for 3 darky com- 
edians. Time, about 15 minutes. Dr. Squozzle and Zip 
Johnson, returned from California, try to get some 
sleep in the office of a hotel, while waiting for the train. 
Taking off their coats, etc., things get badly mixed. 

HOME. 15 Cents. 

A comedy in 3 acts, by T. W. Robertson. 4 male, 3 
female characters. Modern costumes. Parlor scene 
throughout. Time, 2 hours. A pTime favorite with play- 
goers everywnere. 

HOW TO TAME YOUR MOTHER-IN-LAW. 15 Cents. 

A farce in 1 act, by H. J. Byron. 4 male, 2 female 
characters. Parlor scene. Time, 35 minutes. Mr. Whif- 
fles, being oppressed with a meddlesome mother-in-law, 
invokes the aid of a friend to cure his relative's eccen- 
tricities. After a series of absurd extravagances the 
old lady is thoroughly "tamed" and Mr. Whiffles' se- 
renity restored. 

IN HONOR BOUND. 15 Cents. 

A drama in 1 act, by Sydney Grundy. 2 male, 2 fe- 
male characters. Parlor scene. Evening costumes. 
Plays 40 minutes. A simple, pretty piece, neatly de- 
signed and freshly written; a little sentimental, but 
neither forced nor tawdry in its sentiment. 

JOHN SMITH. 15 Cents. 

A farce in 1 act, by W. Hancock. 5 male, 3 female 
characters. Time, 40 minutes. A favorite and laugha" 
ble piece in which the great number of John Smiths in 
the world is cleverly utilized in producing a series of 
button-bursting misunderstandings. Every character is 
good, and the farce is easy to play. 

Any Book Advertised in This Catalogue Sent, 

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FREDERICK J. DRAKE & CO., 

352-356 Dearborn St., Chicago. 

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24 CATALOGUE OF F. J. DIIAKE & CO. 

JUMBO Jl«. 15 Cents. 

A farce in 1 act. 4 male, 3 female characters. Time, 
40 minutes. Jumbo Jum is a comical darky who gets 
everything upside down in an uproarious way. The 
character is so full of genuine humor and fun that it is 
sure to convulse any audience with laughter from begin- 
ning to end. A favorite piece with "cullud" comedians. 

LADY AUDLEY'S SECRET. 15 Cents. 

A drama in 2 acts, by C. H. Hazlewood. 4 male, 3 
female characters. Costumes of the day. Time, 1 X A 
hours. This is a dramatization of Miss Braddon's well 
known novel, a favorite stock play with repertoire com- 
panies and popular among dramatic clubs. Lady Aud- 
ley is among the best of leading emotional characters. 

LEND ME FIVE SHILLINGS. 15 Cents. 

A farce in 1 act, by J. M. Morton. 5 male, 2 female 
characters. Time, 1 hour. The humor of this celebrated 
farce springs from the hero's perplexities and mortifica- 
tions. It invariably provokes continuous explosions of 
laughter, and has long been a favorite in the repertoire 
of Mr. Joseph Jefferson. 

LOST HEIR, THE. 15 Cents. 

A drama in 3 acts for 10 male characters. Time, 1^ 
hours. Deservedly a favorite because of its real dra- 
matic effectiveness and the unflagging interest that fol- 
lows the fortunes of the young hero. 

MARRIED LIFE. 15 Cents. 

A comedy in 3 acts, by J. B. Buckstone. 5 male, 5 fe- 
male characters. Time, 2 hours. A sterling comedy 
that invariably provokes uproarious outbursts of mirth. 

MISCHIEVOUS BOB. 15 Cents. 

A comic drama in 1 act, for 6 male characters. Plain 
room scene. Time, 40 minutes. A taking farce for boys, 
marked by a serious, and even pathetic, as well as 
comic interest. 

MISCHIEVOUS NIGGER, THE. 15 Cents. 

A farce in 1 act, by Chas. White. 4 male (darky, 
French barber, Irishman, and irascible old man), 2 fe- 
male characters, (played by male actors). Plays 30 
minutes. 

Any Book Advertised in This Catalogue Sent, 

Postpaid, on Receipt of Price. 

FREDERICK J. DRAKE & CO., 

352-356 Dearborn St., Chicago. 

SEND FOR COMPLETE CATALOGUE. 



CATALOGUE OP F. J. DRAKE & CO. 2$ 

MORE BLUNDERS THAN ONE. 15 Cents. 

A farce in 1 act, by Thos. G. Rodwell. 4 male, 3 fe- 
male characters. Time, about 1 hour. Consists of a 
succession of comical misadventures growing out of the 
pranks of a blundering Irishman who drives everybody 
nearly wild with his oddities. The leading character is 
an Irish comedian. 

MRS. WILLIS* WILL. 15 Cents. 

A comedy in 1 act from the French of Emile Souv- 
estre. 5 female characters. Plain room scene. Time, 45 
minutes. Conveys the moral that fine clothes and 
scheming selfishness do not always succeed. A country 
jig, danced under protest by two of the personages, is 
the medium of much fun, and the whole cast, being 
composed of distinct types, gives scope for some very 
neat character acting. No scenery required. 

MY AWFUL DAD. 15 Cents. 

A comedy in 3 acts, by Chas. Matthews. 6 males, 6 
females, and 3 utility male characters. Modern cost- 
umes. 2 interior scenes. Time, 2 hours. Keeps the au- 
dience in roars of laughter from first to last. The play 
always makes a brilliant hit, and will be talked about 
long after many another play has been forgotten. 

MY NEIGHBOR'S WIFE. 15 Cents. 

A farce in 1 act, by J. M. Morton. 4 male, 4 female 
characters. Parlor scene. Modern costumes. Time, 45 
minutes. A laughable piece in which each of two elder- 
ly "mashers" attempts a flirtation with his neighbor's 
wife. 

MY PRECIOUS BETSEY. 15 Cents. 

A farce in act, by J. M. Morton. 4 male, 4 female 
characters. Plain room scene. Time, 55 minutes. It is 
indescribably funny and never yet failed to convulse an 
audience with laughter. 2 of the characters (1 male 
and 1 female) may be omitted, if desired. Sometimes 
called "Bobtails and Wagtails." 

NOT SUCH A FOOL, AS HE LOOKS. 15 Cents. 

A comedy in 3 acts, by H. J. Byron. 5 male, 4 female 
characters. Modern costumes. 3 interior scenes. Time, 
2y 2 hours. The movement throughout is exceedingly 
brisk, the interest not being permitted to flag for a 
moment. The play has great merit, and it is always 
greeted with unlimited laughter and vast applause. 

Any Book Advertised in This Catalogue Sent, 

Postpaid, on Receipt of Price. 

FREDERICK J. DRAKE & CO., 

352-356 Dearborn St., Chicago. 

^END FOR COMPLETE CATALOGUE. 



26 CATALOGUE OF F. J. DRAKE & CO. 

NO CURE, NO PAY. 15 Cents. 

A Negro farce in 1 act, by G. W. H. Griffin. 3 males, 

1 female (played by a male actor). Plain interior or no 
scene at all. Plays about 15 minutes. Dr. Ipecac has a 
new method for restoring speech and hearing to the 
deaf and dumb. Geo. Washington Green, a dandy lover, 
gets under the treatment by mistake, with terrifying 
and ridiculous results. Cato, a darky servant is an ex- 
travaeantly comical character. The other three char- 
acters can be played with white faces. 

NOT SO BAD AFTER ALL,. 15 Cents. 

A comedy in 3 acts, by Wybert Reeve. 6 male, 5 fe- 
male characters. Garden and parlor scenes. Modern 
costumes. Time, 1% hours. The extraordinary whims 
and fancies of a wife who seeks to establish petticoat 
government, her husband's comical predicaments and 
her ultimate cure, form the motive of this comedy 
which brings shouts of laughter from the audience. It 
is played sometimes as "Is Marriage a Failure?" and 
"The Second Honeymoon." 

OBSTINATE FAMILY, THE. 15 Cents. 

A farce in 1 act. 3 male, 3 female characters. Plain 
room scene. Everyday costumes. Time, 40 minutes. 
A lovers' quarrel between two servants grows, by a 
very natural process, into what threatens to be a do- 
mestic cyclone of vast proportions. 

OUR BOYS. 15 Cents. 

A comedy in 3 acts, by H. J. Byron. 6 male, 4 female 
characters. Modern costumes. 3 interior scenes. Time, 

2 hours. Full of opportunities for exciting a laugh, 
though some of the best effects are produced in the 
few serious moments of the play. 

OUT IN THE STREETS. 15 Cents. 

A drama in 3 acts, by S. N. Cook. 6 male, 4 female 
characters. Modern costumes. Time, 1 hour. Where- 
ever this play is presented it is received with the great- 
est enthusiasm. 

POPPING THE QUESTION. 15 Cents. 

A farce in 1 act, by J. B. Buckstone. 2 male, 4 female 
characters. Parlor scene. Time, 40 minutes. It is an 
exceedingly neat farce, easy to play, and always brings 
down the house. Requires no scenery. 

Any Book Advertised in This Catalogue Sent, 

Postpaid, on Receipt of Price. 

FREDERICK J. DRAKE & CO., 

352-356 Dearborn St., Chicago. 

SEND FOR COMPLETE CATALOGUE. 



CATALOGUE OF F. J. DRAKE & CO. 27 

PERSECUTED DUTCHMAN, THE; OR THE ORIG- 
INAL, JOHN SCHMIDT. 15 Cents. 

A farce in 1 act, by J. Barry. 6 male, 3 female char- 
acters. Time, 50 minutes. Audiences never tire of this 
farce, though it has been played, and played again. 
Shouts of laughter greet the indescribably funny pre- 
dicaments of a Dutch commercial traveller who stops 
at a hotel. 

PRETTY PIECE OP BUSINESS, A. 15 Cents. 

A comedietta in 1 act, by Thos. Morton. 2 male, 3 
female characters. Parlor scene. Modern costumes. 
Time, 50 minutes. Consists of a series of absurd com- 
plications growing out of a plot to make a diffident old 
batchelor come to the point. No scenery required. 

QUACK DOCTOR, THE. 15 Cents. 

A Negro farce in 1 act, by J. W. Smith. 4 males, 1 
female (the latter played by a male actor)— all black 
faces. Dr. Squash pulls teeth, cures fits, makes love 
to Dinah Primrose, and upsets things generally until 
his patients get together and mob him. Time, about 
25 minutes. 

QUARRELSOME SERVANTS. 15 Cents. 

A farce in 1 act. by G. W. H. Griffin. 3 male char- 
acters (1 white, 2 black faces). Plain room scene or no 
scene at all. lime, about 15 minutes. A popular and 
effective skit for 3 comedians. 

QUIET FAMILY, A. 15 Cents. 

A farce in 1 act, by W. E. Suter. 4 male, 4 female 
characters. Plain room scene. Everday costumes. 
Time, 45 minutes. A flare-up and reconciliation in 
which two quarrelsome families living under one roof 
create a whirlwind of boisterous fun which involves 
servants and all. The piece fetches shouts of laughter, 
and is good for parlor or afterpiece. 

REGULAR FIX, A. 15 Cents. 

A farce in 1 act, by J. M. Morton. 6 male, 4 female 
characters. Parlor scene. Everyday costumes. Time, 
50 minutes. The audience is kept in a state of continu- 
ous and explosive mirth at the way in which the hero 
extricates himself from the dilemmas that confront 
him at everv point. 

Any Book Advertised in This Catalogue Sent, 

Postpaid, on Receipt of Price. 

FREDERICK J. DRAKE & CO., 

352-356 Dearborn St., Chicago. 

SEND FOR COMPLETE CATALOGUE. 



28 CATALOGUE OF F. J. DRAKE & CO. 

ROOMS TO LET, WITHOUT BOARD. 15 Cents. 

A farce in 1 act, by Griffin and Denier. 3 male char- 
acters. Bedroom scene. Plays about 15 minutes. The 
farce is so full of snappy "business" and comic incident 
that it is sure to go well. Can be played with white or 
black faces. 

ROUGH DIAMOND, THE. 15 Cents. 

A farce in 1 act, bv J. B. Buckstone. 4 male, 3 female 
characters. Parlor scene. Modern costumes. Time, 40 
minutes. In this farce, whose popularity is unexelled, 
the contrast between a country bumpkin and his 
fashionable city cousin is laughable in the extreme, 
while the dialogue and situations are funny straight 
through. Very easy to play. It is called, also, "The 
Country Cousin," and "Cousin Joe's Visit." 

SCHOOL FOR SCHEMING, THEj OR LOVE AND 
MONEY. 15 Cents. 

A comedy in 5 acts by Dion Bouccicault. 7 males, 8 
female characters. Time, about 3 hours. The author 
has constructed a very entertaining play with numerous 
merits. Spectators are always deeply interested in the 
development of the plot, and applause follows each act. 

SCRAP OF PAPER, Aj OR THE ADVENTURES OF A 
LOVE-LETTER. 15 Cents. 

A comic drama in 3 acts, by J. P. Simpson. 6 male, 6 
female characters. 3 interior scenes. Modern costumes. 

Time, 2 hours. A corned^ of the present time, full of 
healthy laughter, in which the intrigue has been 
wrought out with consummate skill. 

SHAM DOCTOR, THE. 15 Cents. 

A Negro farce in 1 act, by Chas. White. 4 male, 2 
female characters (all black faces, played by male ac- 
tors). Bellshazzar Bug, M.D., practices on old Johnson 
in a very novel way, but contrives to administer a good 
dose of fun to the audience. Time, about 20 minutes. 

SLIGHT MISTAKE, A. 15 Cents. 

A comedy in 1 act, from the French of Emil Souvestre. 
5 female characters. Plain room scene. Time, 30 min- 
utes. A pleasing comedy whose moral is coated with 
the sugar of fun. 

Any Book Advertised in This Catalogrne Sent, 

Postpaid, on Receipt of Price. 

FREDERICK J. DRAKE & CO., 

352-356 Dearborn St., Chicago. 

SEND FOR COMPLETE CATALOGUE. 



CATALOGUE OF F. J. DRAKE & CO. 29 

SINGLE LIFE. 15 Cents. 

A comedy in 3 acts, by J. B. Buckstone. 5 male, 5 
female characters. Time of playing, 2 hours. All the 
characters are comic— 5 bachelors and 5 spinsters. The 
play deals with the loves, suspicious and quarrels of 
the ten who wrangle themselves into a state of final 
harmony. It is pure fun all the way through, and the 
audience is kept in roars of laughter from beginning to 
end. 

SOLON SHINGLE; OR THE PEOPLE'S LAWYER. 15 
Cents. 

A New England comedy in 2 acts, by J. S. Jones. 7 
males, 2 females, and jurymen. Time, iy 2 hours. A well 
known and popular comedy. Many of the scenes are in- 
tensely pathetic, others are equally humorous. The play 
throughout appeals to all that is uure and wholesome. 
Every appearance of the old Yankee farmer brings out- 
bursts of uproarious mirth. 

STAGE-STRUCK DARKY, THE. 15 Cents. 

A darky interlude in 1 act, for 3 male characters (1 im- 
personating a girl). Plays about 10 minutes. It is a 
burlesque on high tragedy acting, the three characters 
impresonating Claude Melnotte, Lady Macbeth, Damon 
and Pythias, etc. 

STAGE-STRUCK YANKEE, THE. 15 Cents. 

A farce in 1 act, by O. E. Durivage. 4 male, 2 female 
characters. Time, 45 minutes. All the characters are 
good. Funny straight through, with a "star" Yankee 
comedian who doubles up the audience with laughter 
every moment he is on the stage. Sometimes called 
"Our Jedidah." 

THAT RASCAL PAT. 15 Cents. 

A farce in 1 act, by J. H. Grover. 3 male, 2 female 
characters. Time, 50 minutes. A ludicrous farce with 
a capital Irishman, whose varying drolleries, blundering 
and impudence in trying to serve two masters at once, 
convulse the audience with explosions of mirth. No 
scenery required. 

TROUBLESOME SERVANT, THE (Handy Andy). 15 
Cents. 

A farce for 2 male characters (1 white and 1 black 
face), by G. W. H. Griffin. Plays 15 minutes. No scen- 
ery required. Both characters are thoroughly comical 
and will fetch roars from the audience. 

Any Boole Advertised in This Catalogue Sent, 

Postpaid, on Receipt of Price. 

FREDERICK J. DRAKE & CO., 

352-356 Dearborn St., Chicago. 

SEND FOR COMPLETE CATALOGUE. 



30 CATALOGUE OF F. J. DRAKE & CO. 

THREE BLACK "SMITHS," THE. 15 Cents. 

An Ethiopian farce in one scene, for 3 darky comedi- 
ans. No scenery required. Plays about half an hour. 
John Smitn, Joe Smith and Jonah Smith get into a 
laughable mix from sameness of name. Anybody who 
wants his wrinkles hammered smooth and the iron 
taken out of his soul, needs to see the adventures of 
the Three Black Smiths. 

TURN HIM OUT. 15 Cents. 

A farce in 1 act, by T. J. Williams. 3 male, 2 female 
characters— also 2 porters to bring on a trunk in which 
one of characters is hidden. Plain room scene. Modern 
costumes. Time 45 minutes. The situation is wildly 
farcial, and gives rise to any quantity of roaring fun. 
No scenery required. 

UNCLE JEPF. 15 Cents. 

A farce in 1 act, by Chas. White. 5 male (including 2 
darkies and a Yankee) and a female (played by male 
actors) characters. Plays about 20 minutes. Uncle Jeff, 
the leading darky comedy role, is a born mischief-mak- 
er, and plays any number of pranks that set all the 
other characters by the ears. 

UNCLE TOM'S CABIN (Original Version). 15 Cents. 

A drama in 6 acts, dramatized from Mrs. Harriet 
Beecher Stowe's famous novel, by Geo. L. Aiken. 15 
male, 6 female characters. Time, about 3 hours. This 
is the original 6-act version which has been played 
thousands of times by both professional and amateur 
companies. 

UNCLE'S WILL. 15 Cents. 

A comedietta in 1 act by S. Theyre Smith, 2 males, 1 
female. Time, 30 minutes. Original in conception, and 
full of sparkling dialogue, this brilliant little piece 
keeps up a constant ripple of amused expectation. The 
characters are all "star" parts, easy to play yet worthy 
of the most accomplished talent. Nothing better for 
the narlor. No scenery required. 

UNHAPPY PAIR, AN. 15 Cents. 

An Ethiopian farce in 1 scene, by G. W. H. Griffin. 3 
male characters and supers. Time, about 10 minutes. 
Two very hungry darkies strike the leader of the band 
for a square meal. Affords a chance for specialties and 
ends in a comic duet. 

Al»y Book Advertised in This Catalogue Sent, 

Postpaid, on Receipt of Price. 

FREDERICK J. DRAKE & CO., 

352-356 Dearborn St., Chicago. 

SEND FOR COMPLETE CATALOGUE. 



CATALOGUE OF F. J. DRAKE & CO. 31 



VERMONT WOOL DEALER, THE. 15 Cents. 

A farce in 1 act, by C. Burke. 5 male, 3 female char- 
acters. Time, 45 minutes. Another favorite Yankee 
farce, with good Negro and Irish characters as well. 
Suits actors and audiences and never grows old. Deu- 
teronomv Dutiful is a "screamer" as full of smart say- 
ings as an egg is full of meat. 

VIRGINIA MUMMY, THE. 15 Cents. 

A farce in 1 act, by Chas. White. 6 males (including 
Darky and Irishman), 1 female (played by a male ac- 
tor). Time, about V2 hour. This farce is often called 
"The Egyptian Mummy." 

WHICH IS WHICH? 15 Cents. 

A comedietta in 1 act, by H. Theyre Smith. 3 male, 
3 female characters. Everyday costumes. Scene, a 
studio. Time, 50 minutes. The play is exceedingly 
bright and graceful, with a strong vein of comic under- 
play. Suitable for parlor or afterpiece, and requires no 
scenery. Characters all excellent. 

WHO IS WHO? OR ALL IN A FOG. 15 Cents. 

A farce in 1 act, bv T. J. Williams. 3 male, 2 female 
characters. Parlor scene. Modern costumes. Time, 40 
minutes. Consists of a series of ridiculous situations 
caused bv everybody being mistaken for somebody efse, 
which creates any number of absurd complications. No 
scenery required. 

WOODCOCK'S LITTLE GAME. 15 Cents. 

A comedy farce in 2 acts, by J. M. Morton. 4 male, 4 
female characters. Time, 1 hour. Full of comical points, 
brisk action and irresisibly funny situations. The old 
woman and low-comedy characters require competent 
handling, but the other parts are easy to play. It will 
keep the audience in a continuous ripple of mirth. 

WOOING UNDER DIFFICULTIES. 15 Cents. 

A farce in 1 act, by John T. Douglass. 4 male, 3 fe^- 
male characters. Parlor scene. Modern costumes. Time, 
30 minutes. Probably no other poor fellow ever wooed 
under more distressing difficulties than the hero of this 
farce, which is uproariously funny and easily played. 

Any Book Advertised in This Catalogue Sent, 

Postpaid, on Receipt of Price. 

FREDERICK J. DRAKE & CO., 

352-356 Dearborn St., Chicago. 

SEND FOR COMPLETE CATALOGUE. 



32 CATALOGUE OF F. J. DRAKE & CO. 

YANKEE PEDDLER, THE; OR OLD TIMES IN VIR- 
GINIA. 15 Cents. 

A farce in 1 act, by Morris Barnett. 7 male, 3 female 
characters. Time, 45 minutes. A very funny piece that 
sets forth the adventures of a Yankee peddler on a 
Virginia plantation "before the war." Excellent for a 
star Yankee comedian who wants to make lots of laugh. 

SPECIAL NOTICE. 

The attention of all professional and amateur actors 
is particularly directed to the fact that we carry a full 
line of Make-up Materials. For prices send for our 
complete catalogue mailed free. Address, 
Frederick J. Drake & Co., 352-356 Dearborn St., Chicago. 



SAFE METHODS OF STOCK MANIPULA- 
TION. 

How to Make Money on the Stock Market. By 
W. Y. Stafford. 

An invaluable guide to the stock speculator or 
others who desire to know something regarding 
stock speculation. It describes the modes of manip- 
ulation which have hitherto remained a secret. The 
character of different markets, how to recognize and 
profit by them. Many valuable hints on how to steer 
clear of the pitfalls and take advantage of the op- 
portunities for making money. The author has had 
twenty years' dealings, both as a broker and with 
the large manipulators in Wall Street, and gives the 
public the benefit of his experience. 
Cloth, Gold Titles 50 CENTS. 



Any Book Advertised in This Catalogue Sent, 

Postpaid, on Receipt of Price. 

FREDERICK J. DRAKE & CO., 

352-356 Dearborn St., Chicago. 

SEND FOR COMPLETE CATALOGUE. 



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